


bloom; grow

by suhologist (avisdreams)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Familiars, Kim Jongdae | Chen-centric, M/M, Slow Burn, Witches, non-consensual magic use, pls read author note regarding tags!, tarantulas - Freeform, unintentionally became a flowershop au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-01-24 16:56:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 29,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21341596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avisdreams/pseuds/suhologist
Summary: Jongdae sings to the queen of the night, moving its pot to the large bay window to receive the most amount of moonlight, and gives it new fresh water for the soil. He can feel the magic flow through the soil and into its roots.“He's right,” he says aloud, to himself and the plant, “I don’t have enough magic to give.” He tickles a leaf and feels the magic playfully swipe back.Jongdae has spent the past several years building upon his magic without a familiar. With his magic at a plateau he thinks now might be the time to move forward.
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongdae | Chen
Comments: 43
Kudos: 162
Collections: EXO MONSTERFEST 2019





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **prompt T95**  
warning; as the tag suggests if spiders/tarantulas are not your thing pls heed with caution! the tarantula in this fic is a sweet docile thing, but i also understand phobias cannot be reasoned with. *light spoiler* tag for non-consensual magic use is for a scene in the second chapter where jd is given a compulsion spell unknowingly! better safe than sorry.
> 
> prompter, i hope this is something you enjoy! it continually evolved to the extent that i couldn’t contain myself, and thus this project turned into the longest thing i’ve ever written. there’s so much i wish i could’ve added in the details, but after reveals if there is more you’d like to know pls reach out to me!
> 
> thank u to everyone who privately cheered me on, and to the mods who were understanding when i asked for an extension more than once. your patience was its own motivator, and you’ve put together a great fest :) !!

Plants need special care, and Jongdae has been learning the ins and outs of every plant he takes care of. Outside of the necessary sunlight requirements, most plants respond particularly well to moonlight, being placed under the rays of the moon during specific lunar phases can activate specific chemical properties of the plant, making it more power and thus more magical.

Currently, Jongdae is rehoming an _epiphyllum oxypetalum_, also known as a Queen of the Night, or orchid cactus, to encourage more flower growth. It’s getting over what he would call a ‘common cold’ as far as plants are concerned. It’s a gorgeous plant that prefers to cling to rocks, trees, or other shrubs. Jongdae has this one with a small trellis. 

“We’ve discussed this before,” he whispers to the small cactus, “that you need a bigger home. We have to stop getting sick.” Like any living thing that needs special care Jongdae was taught the importance of talking to his plants (though during the day when he was alone he could be caught singing).

“I’m heading out,” Junmyeon puts on his denim jacket, Gully, his raven familiar with her distinctive gurgling croak, moving from her perch to his shoulder. The crisp spring air lending itself to be just chilly enough to warrant more coverage. “Don’t stay much longer, there’s things I need you to do tomorrow before your trip.” 

Jongdae pouts at Junmyeon calling him entering the Cave of Companions a ‘trip’ as it's hardly something as trivial as a trip.

“I’m just repotting this, it's stunted and keeps getting brown leaves no matter how much I talk to them.”

Junmyeon walks back towards Jongdae, Gully hopping back onto her perch sounding one of her ‘knocks’, as Jongdae likes to call it, in what Jongdae has dubbed and recognized as impatience. But Junmyeon pays her no extra mind, so Jongdae doesn’t either.

Jongdae notices the dirt under his short finger nails. Junmyeon runs his thumb and forefinger up the stem of the plant where it weaves throughout the trellis, sitting in its new pot but not completely settled. His index grazing the top of one of its leaves. 

His gaze connects with Gully who flies in their direction. Jongdae ducks his head out of habit and caution, as Gully lands on Junmyeon’s shoulder.

“They're not sick, but it needs more feed than I realized, so it’s no wonder you’re having trouble getting them better, though I can’t deny they're much better than last week.” Junmyeon takes a handful of the infused soil Jongdae had been working on all week and begins to fill in the open gaps until he’s gently patting the soil on top, whispering magic into the soil, and into their roots, Gully at his side.

Jongdae just watches, disappointed again. Junmyeon sees his expression and wipes his dirt covered hands on his jeans and clasps him on the back of his neck. “It’s nothing you did wrong, they just needed a little extra more than what you can give.”

“It’s just…” Jongdae pauses, not wanting to seem petulant, but Junmyeon understands. He’s known Jongdae, worked with him, for quite a while now, catches on to his frustrations better than Jongdae himself most of the time. 

“It’s frustrating,” Junmyeon is patient and his teacher voice is back, “I get it. I wasn’t able to do half of what you’re capable right now before I met Gully,” she sounds in what Jongdae assumes is agreement, unable to speak with Junmyeon’s familiar, “and I know you’ll surpass me.”

Jongdae scrunches his nose is dislike, Junmyeon taught him everything he knows about plants and their properties, and becoming better than him seems like a far distant dream. But before Jongdae can defend his own mentor’s honor Junmyeon cups his hand over his mouth and _giggles_ , “I mean, you’re _most likely_ to surpass me, but I am this districts resident green witch so I’d prefer you to become the best somewhere else.”

“You’re annoying,” Jongdae whines, kicking Junmyeon’s foot without any real malice.

Junmyeon laughs and his familiar makes noises that Jongdae can only assume is supposed to be raven laughter. She’s probably mocking him.

“Sing to them,” Junmyeon notes, his steps echoing on the hardwood floor of the indoor area of the nursery, “they tell me they love when you sing to them.”

Jongdae blushes, he usually doesn’t sing with Junmyeon around but he has been caught and claimed it was because he thought the plants liked it better. Junmyeon smiled then, his eyes disappearing in glee, and he agreed with Jongdae and now encourages it on the daily.

He’s a terror, Jongdae has learned. 

Jongdae sings to the queen of the night, moving its pot to the large bay window to receive the most amount of moonlight, and gives it new fresh water for the soil. He can feel the magic flow through the soil and into its roots.

“He's right,” he says aloud, to himself and the plant, “I don’t have enough magic to give.” He tickles a leaf and feels the magic playfully swipe back.

~

When Jongdae returns to his home it’s to Baekhyun reheating leftovers and his tabby cat familiar following him around their apartment, meowing loudly to Jongdae’s ears, but probably a host of swears to his witch begging for extra food.

Their apartment is small by Jongdae’s standards and cozy by Baekhyun’s, who claims they’re lucky they even found an apartment with a second bedroom at their price point. They cleanup after themselves after every meal, hardly even letting it wait for another day, because if they did that it would get filthy faster than they can could keep up. It’s better this way with Noodle, Baekhyun’s feline familiar, who purposefully knocks things off counters and tables when it gets too cluttered for him to roam easily.

Baekhyun works in marketing as his main source of income, but keeping their apartment in good shape is also beneficial when he has the occasional customer come by for a cleansing when a house call is out of the question. Sometimes love sickness spells shouldn’t be performed at the clients residence, it’s bad form to the person who also lives there.

As a general rule of the apartment, and as two witches they have a few, Jongdae doesn’t get involved in Baekhyun’s love sickness spells, and Baekhyun doesn’t touch Jongdae’s plants that hang in the few open corners of the apartment and on their tiny outdoor balcony, or the succulents that sit on the windowsill.

Jongdae is thankful when he notices there’s a clean plate on the counter next to the reheated food for when he's ready. 

“Noodle told me you were coming, you’re welcome,” is Baekhyun’s hello. Noodle rubs against Jongdae’s legs in greeting. Jongdae refrains from picking him up, he’d prefer to not get cat hair all over himself at the moment.

“Thaaaank you~” Jongdae singsongs, navigating through their tiny apartment so he can place his bags down and shower off the dirt and magic from work.

When he emerges it’s to Baekhyun going one step further and plating food for Jongdae, his own dirty plate still on their small kitchen table that’s cluttered with a mixture of junk mail they haven’t gotten rid of and some of Baekhyun's spell books.

There’s a vibration in the room, coming directly from Baekhyun. He has something to say but isn’t saying it. “I can feel your energy from here,” Jongdae tells him, filling a glass of water from the sink.

“I’m just excited,” Baekhyun chirps, placing the plate down for Jongdae. He’s being too domestic. “Like, it’s about time you went and got your familiar.”

Jongdae pouts. “Is it really?” Jongdae takes a large bite of food, stopping himself from saying anything more. Most people make the journey once they’ve come of age, between sixteen or eighteen, depending on your family and your own abilities. Jongdae is closer to thirty than he is to twenty, but he's been putting this off for a plethora of reasons.

“Yes!” Baekhyun exclaims, “You’re so good at sensing energies and shit and it’s annoying that you can’t see how much of you is being _wasted_ by not having a familiar.”

Jongdae shoves the food to one side of his mouth, puffing his cheek out like a chipmunk or squirrel that’s carrying their food around to bury for later, and screw manners because this is Baekhyun who not only talks with his mouth full, but also has been Jongdae’s friend since childhood and his roommate for several years.

“I’m not that good at energies,” Jongdae admonishes, because it’s true, “I’ve just known you forever and yours is so _loud_. And I’m not _wasting_ my magic by not having a familiar.”

“You’re just wasting your potential.” It’s the same argument that’s been frequently brought up for years; Jongdae doesn’t see it as a waste, and brings up his usual defense.

“There are plenty of powerful witches that don’t have a familiar,” Jongdae states.

“Because they can’t. You can,” Baekhyun emphasizes. Jongdae swallows the food in his mouth and holds up a hand for Baekhyun to stop, wags his finger back in forth to indicate _’No more’_ but Baekhyun plows on anyway, “And it’s wasted that you’ve denied and put this off for years.”

“I haven’t denied it,” Jongdae supplies, “I’ve just not wanted to,” the _you know why_ remains unsaid. “And this argument is null because it's happening tomorrow night.” Jongdae deflects, and gives Baekhyun a look that he hopes Baekhyun can tell means, _drop it, please._

Noodle jumps into Jongdae’s lap, a white flag from both of them that Jongdae knows is sincere when Noodle doesn’t even try to beg or steal from his plate, instead content to lounge and purr while Jongdae finishes his meal.

So much for not getting hair all over his clothes.

There is a part of Jongdae, that he isn't as ready or willing to admit, that is relieved that he’s finally going to the Cave to bond with his familiar. Baekhyun is right, and maybe that’s the part that Jongdae doesn’t want to confess to, that he’s currently reached a block with his magic and has limitations to what he can and cannot do. There’s a level of frustration that outweighs whatever qualms Jongdae has had for the past few years in getting a new familiar. 

_They're not a replacement. They will only lead you farther and deeper into your own abilities._

Learning different magic, a new branch outside of weather, helped refocus Jongdae, and helped ground him and moved him forward. Learning about green magic from Junmyeon was therapeutic in a way he hadn’t anticipated when he realized storm casting was currently impossible. Mentally and magically. Not on his own and not after what happened.

There’s a silent truce, and Baekhyun does the dishes while Jongdae lounges on the couch with Noodle after taking care of his personal plants. He hopes, not for the first time, that his familiar will get along with Noodle. They should, considering how close Jongdae and Baekhyun are, but familiars are also their own beings, and a little animosity isn’t unheard of when it comes to clashing animal types.

Baekhyun joins them in the living area shortly after, watching the game program distractedly while he watches Noodle cuddling up with Jongdae.

“Don’t be jealous,” Jongdae teases, knowing it bothers Baekhyun how much his own familiar is drawn to someone else.

“I’m not,” Baekhyun pouts, “it's just unfair you let Noodle comfort you more than you let me.”

“Do you need to take one of your own tonics?”

“I’m not suffering from love sickness, ugly.” Baekhyun kicks Jongdae’s leg, jostling him and Noodle who flicks his tail in annoyance with a meow. “But Noodle is right, you do need to calm down. I can make tea, if you want.”

“Sure, but only because you’re clearly babying me and I’m going to take advantage until further notice.”

In passing Baekhyun plucks a hair off of Jongdae’s head. “This is for the curse I’m going to put on you when you least expect it,” he teases. Dutifully, Noodle follows.

It’s only a few minutes later that Baekhyun is handing Jongdae his favorite mug, steaming with a calming chamomile tea. Jongdae makes a mental list of things to prepare before he sleeps, since he’s leaving directly from Junmyeon’s shop to the cave: his pendant (which he wears everyday regardless), his smoky quartz crystal for clarity and focus, his journal should he need to write his intentions down.

He’s been told a list of ways he may summon and be found by his familiar. Most annoying of all was Baekhyun saying Noodle just walked up to him before he could even try to call him forth. Jongdae instinctually knew he wouldn’t be as fortunate.

With a goodnight wave from Baekhyun, Jongdae goes to get ready for sleep, to set his intentions for tomorrow night. The moonlight is bright in his room and the plants he has along his desk bask in its light. He lights a candle his mother made, and is able to shut out the noises from his apartment and outside his apartment window while he meditates on his goals and visualizes his familiar. 

He used to panic about entering the Cave; waiting and waiting with nothing but blank darkness, without a familiar to claim him. It’s happened before, rumors of those entering the Cave of Companions only to return without a familiar, devastated and distraught. 

Jongdae’s been having dreams though, dreams that he brushed off because he’s never been one to seek answers or knowledge through the astral plane. His dreams slip from him just as easily as anyone else's do, but when Junmyeon asked and he admitted he didn’t keep a dream journal he bought him one and handed it to Jongdae the next morning.

And it's yielded interesting results. Jongdae _had_ been having a reoccurring dream, of sorts, that he couldn’t make heads or tails of. No animal presented itself, but he frequently dreamed the color green, as grass, hedges, and rolling mountains. It wasn’t all as innocent, however. One particular night he dreamt of getting lost in an intricate maze and woke up to the sensation of what he could only describe as bugs crawling across his skin.

When he mentioned all of this to Junmyeon he had said it means Jongdae is environmentally conscious, and greedy for Junmyeon’s job as the districts green witch. Jongdae smacked him on the arm while Junmyeon laughed, and stopped asking for interpretations from his not-funny boss.

He knew that there was a common thought on dreams featuring bugs, but without knowledge of what kind of bug it could have meant anything from confusion to fertility. So, another dead end.

Jongdae wakes to the incessant buzzing of his phone and a crick in his neck. He dreamed about… he thinks he dreamed he was tied up by rope in the middle of the forest. But it’s completely expelled from his mind when he realizes the buzzing of his phone is because Junmyeon is calling him. He’s late.

“Hi,” Jongdae says, with his best not-just-woken-up voice while putting on the first pair of jeans, the ones from yesterday, and trying to pull himself together. “I’m sorry, I’ll be there soon.”

“Okay,” Junmyeon’s reply is casual, he isn’t irritated or upset that Jongdae is already ten minutes late for work. Great, now Jongdae can feel guilty about that, too. “Just don’t forget your supplies for tonight.” That's his firm boss voice, and jeez, Jongdae did almost forget his bag of items for the Cave. 

He quickly finishes dressing himself, remembering to grab an extra sweatshirt since it’s still early spring and he’ll be, essentially, without protection when venturing into the woods and the Cave. He grabs his bag with his notebook and crystals, brushes his teeth as fast as possible, and combs a wet hand through his hair. He rushes past Noodle who is sitting on the back on the sofa while Baekhyun is sitting in his pajamas shoveling what looks like egg into his mouth. He takes a look at Jongdae and then at the time and a panicked sort of groan escapes him.

“I didn’t even know you were still here!” he bemoans.

Jongdae hates being late. It’s one thing to be within a five minute bracket, but another to be almost an entire hour by the time he makes it to Junmyeon’s on the other side of the city. 

“I bet Noodle knew I was home,” Jongdae stuffs his feet into his shoes at the entrance of the door, swinging his arms through his jacket. 

“Hey,” Jongdae can hear Baekhyun get up and place his plate of food on their small coffee table. One of his feet won’t smush itself properly into the shoe, getting caught on the heel. “Apologize to Noodle,” Baekhyun is holding the gray tabby cat with one hand cradling his butt, the other his chest, offering him up for Jongdae to express his apologies.

“He totally did know though, didn’t he?” Jongdae gruffly asks. “I don’t have _time_ Baekhyun, I’m already late.”

“Junmyeon doesn’t care and we both know that.” Jongdae gives him a disbelieving look. “Junmyeon doesn’t care _today,_” he amends. “Noodle, however, cares that you blame him for your own carelessness about not setting your alarm.”

“Are those his words?”

“Yes,” Baekhyun replies, lifting him closer to Jongdae’s face. Noodle meows, a low displeased sound. “For the most part, at least.”

Jongdae gives him a small scratch under his chin in apology. Baekhyun moves him so he’s cradled against his chest. 

“I can’t believe it’s happening!” Baekhyun is excited enough for the both of them. His excitement surpasses Jongdae’s by double and then some. Jongdae can’t help the small frown that sneaks past him. He snags his keys from the hook besides the door and does the signature pat down; keys, phone, wallet. 

“I’ll see you later,” Jongdae opens the door and turns to leave. 

Baekhyun squawks from behind. “Wait!” he calls out and Jongdae whines. “Good luck.” Jongdae hears a _mrrp_ from Noodle as Baekhyun gently drops him to the floor and immediately embraces him in a hug while he’s already halfway outside their apartment. “Stay focused and clear your mind and have intention.” He keeps his grasp on Jongdae as he lists his advice, then moves his body away. “Be patient.”

“I know,” Jongdae responds, “I really have to go.”

“Okay. You grabbed the keys for my car, right?” Baekhyun, for all his teasing, is just as nervous as Jongdae is. The only difference is Jongdae is much better at hiding his nerves, masking it in his frenzy to get to work. And these nerves made it so that he completely forgot that he was going to take the car today, so he could drive directly to the Cave, which would otherwise be two bus trips and a long walk. Jongdae smiles and pushes Baekhyun off and away from him, grabbing the spare key to Baekhyun’s Honda with him.

“Thanks!”

Jongdae makes it to Junmyeon’s faster than he thought he would, mostly because he was able to avoid public transportation, and by the time he gets there he’s only forty minutes late, which is better than the hour he originally thought he’d be. 

Junmyeon has him get to work immediately, but he checks on the queen of the night, and their leaves are already looking healthier.

He’s already forgotten about his dream.

~

The list of things Junmyeon needs Jongdae to do today mostly involves preparing pick-ups for orders that were placed earlier in the week. Jongdae used to be confused about Junmyeon’s profession, believing the man was an herbal hedge witch. Rather, instead of being the one to create the tonics and potions from all of the herbs, leaves, and flowers he grows he simply supplies them for other witches.

Baekhyun thinks he’s just a glorified florist, though.

But for the trickier plants, the rarer ones that took more energy and magic, Junmyeon supplied. And for the past three years Jongdae has helped. He’s helped and he’s learned more about botany than he ever anticipated as an aspiring weather witch.

Aspiring, even though it’s been years since he could successfully cast a storm, and calling up a wind takes monumental effort. More due to the emotional effort than the magical effort, but it seems like it just crosses over at this point.

Currently, they’re doing a purification spell to distill the water for the section of remedial herbs during a lull in their day when Junmyeon speaks up. “You have an affinity toward green magic,” he keeps his head down, watching the water from the tap fill the watering can. “But I’ve noticed you never talk about it as more than a hobby or something to pass the time.”

With one can full and purified Jongdae hoists it from the counter. “I’m learning a lot,” Jongdae starts, tilting the can watching the herbs being showered. “I want to do well in green magic.” He raises the can, the stream of water ending, and hesitates.

“But?” Junmyeon prompts, as a question, for him to continue.

"Well, I can't do my storm casting and wind calling because I don't have," _lost_ Jongdae bitterly reminds himself, "a familiar. And that's what I’m supposed to master."

With the second can full Junmyeon imbues it with a simple purification spell, removing traces of fluoride, and lacing it with magic to encourage growth without the fear of lowering the quality. "What you're supposed to do, or what you want to do?"

Junmyeon is tricky like that, never outright questioning things, simply giving Jongdae alternative statements he mulls over for longer than he wants.

"Weather forecasting, manipulation, water dowsing,” Jongdae feels his guard raising as he lists all of the things his family magic allows them to excel in, "it's what I'm good at. Really good at.”

He suddenly feels defensive by what Junmyeon has to say, what Jongdae assumes he’s implying. There’s a need of self-approval he needs to conquer as well. He’s talked to Junmyeon what happened, the barest of details, but he also knows that being in his mid-twenties without a familiar is pretty uncommon and Junmyeon is a smart enough witch to put context clues together.

“I don’t doubt that, Jongdae.”

Junmyeon picks up his own watering can and moves to the other side of the nursery to feed the flowers for arrangements, ones specifically he enchants to give off energies. Though part of Junmyeon’s business is supplying to healers and hedge witches, his main source of business comes from enchantments on plants and other floral arrangements; helping to give off magical energies to promote whatever the customer wished. Arrangements for funerals that bring calmness and peace to the friends and family, arrangements that lessen feelings of anxiety for students in university; customers who have little to no magic in their family or lives.

Jongdae stays quiet. Doesn’t know what Junmyeon is trying to prove. If he’s even trying to prove anything.

The bell on the front door of the shop chimes, and since Junmyeon still has a mostly full can of water, “I’ll take care of it.” Jongdae volunteers.

They’re short, but no smaller than Jongdae himself, with short cropped black hair and thick rimmed glasses.

“How can I help you?” Jongdae asks.

“An arrangement for good luck,” Their voice, low and clear, settles in Jongdae’s chest. “Preferably chrysanthemums.”

There are a few flowers that could help with that, but the customer is right, mums are a great option, and one he would’ve suggested. Jongdae nods and gives a warm, customer service friendly smile. “I’ll be right back, take a look around if you’d like.”

He goes to head to the back where Junmyeon is watering beds of chrysanthemums and a few other options Jongdae had in mind, maybe narcissus, depending on what the good luck is for.

“Need help?” Junmyeon asks, finishing his task and placing the can back near the sink.

“They want an arrangement of mums. For good luck so they’ll need to be enchanted.” Jongdae supplies. Enchanting isn’t something he feels comfortable attempting.

Junmyeon whistles, and Gully glides from her high perch on the other side of the nursery to his shoulder. “Did they set a color preference?”

Jongdae bit his lip, “I didn’t ask,” he admits. Junmyeon hovers for a moment before picking the yellow bulbs, before bundling them like a bouquet.

“A feeling?” Jongdae smirks.

“Less of a feeling, more of an acquired knowledge.” Junmyeon’s cheeks turned round with his self-assured smile. It was part of his magic, simply _knowing_. It took a while for Jongdae to understand that it was part of Junmyeon to have that sort of sixth sense. And Junmyeon is very rarely wrong.

“Maybe some narcissus as well,” Junmyeon adds. “White ones.”

Jongdae abruptly turns around to head back into the nursery for the bulbed flowers. “How many?”

“Five.” Jongdae grabs them and hands them off to Junmyeon who places them gently onto his table before moving to the front of the store to confirm with the customer that he can proceed with an enchantment. Jongdae cleans up after Junmyeon, removing excess leaves that have come loose from their cuttings.

It's only a minute, but Junmyeon is already coming back to the nursery with a small pout on his face. “We’re not enchanting these. He said there was no need.”

Jongdae feels a little silly, for assuming that when he came into the shop specifically asking for a certain flower for a certain reason that he would want it enchanted.

Jongdae covers his own mistake and lightly teases Junmyeon instead, “Stop pouting, let me arrange it you’ll give it bad energy with all of that sulking.”

After Jongdae arranges the chrysanthemum and narcissus together, yellow with blooms of white, he brings them to the store front and the customer is looking at a large fern, arms crossed and brows furrowed in focus. It’s an intimidating stare, but he accepts the arrangement graciously, and leaves with a nod of thanks.

Later, as it dawns on Jongdae he asks, “Did that customer from earlier say why he didn’t want them enchanted?”

“Said he had his own preferred method of imbuing intention and energy. He just needed the right flowers from a reputable place,” Junmyeon dismisses it with a swat of his hand. “Fine enough. He was happy with the addition of the white narcissus, so at least there’s that.”

“Oooh, you’re reputable now!” Jongdae teases, “And you mean at least you _sensed_ he’d be happy with the narcissus.”

“Oh, did I?” Junmyeon smiles, full of teeth and eyes as crescents, like a kid. Jongdae rolls his eyes in endeared exasperation.

“Your ego is limitless.”

Jongdae is kept busy enough that by the time the shop is ready to close he’s barely had time to mentally prepare for his night. He’s panicking a bit, and calms down by doing a thorough check on the queen of the night; stalks and leaves greener than yesterday and signs of new stalks preparing to spread as well. There’s a little bit of pride laced with his happiness at how well it’s doing after only a day, even if Jongdae convinces himself it's mostly due to Junmyeon’s magic.

On the drive to the Cave, which is actually situated in a park on the outskirts of the city, Jongdae begins to pre-set his intentions. It’s less about wanting a specific kind of familiar, and more about hoping to forge a bond and steady relationship. A familiar to help him get back into his weather magic.

He can’t deny that he’s imagined a raven like Junmyeon’s; notorious for moving forward in advanced spells and magic. He’s watched Junmyeon use feathers from Gully for spells on clairvoyance and helping him see more than what was in front of him. He’s never met someone with a sixth sense, a knack of knowing what was going to happen, quite as well as Junmyeon, who doesn’t even claim to be psychic. According to Junmyeon, not many things can genuinely surprise him anymore.

Or maybe a cat, like Baekhyun. They’re common, but for good reason. Jongdae has first hand experience with the working relationship that is between Baekhyun and Noodle; one of the most useful familiars for spell casting and rituals. Teachers of magic for their witch by their own right. 

Jongdae pulls Baekhyun’s Honda to a stop at a small graveled parking lot, surrounded by elevated land and encumbered with trees. The drive was short, compared to how long it would’ve taken to arrive by public transport. He turns off his phone and leaves it in the glove compartment of the car. It’s beautiful here, even at night with the surroundings hidden in darkness.

Where the Cave resides, Jongdae learned growing up, is at the junction of two ley lines; supernatural rivers of energy. He’s transported back to lessons with his mother about magic and energy; her explaining over lunch that two lines intersecting creates an even larger pocket of concentrated energy. The energy which grants those like Jongdae, Baekhyun, and Junmyeon the power to hone and manipulate the world around them. Magic.

The closer to the ley lines, and where they intersect, the stronger and easier it is to tap into that energy. The Cave being there, a protected resource for witches and those part of the supernatural world, allows for the rich and vibrant community they’ve created and maintained throughout the centuries. And it’s here that many witches in the region come, where there’s an elevation in magic and energy, and the window between the physical and astral plane is open, to bind a familiar to them.

The walk to the entrance of the Cave of Companions is difficult at night, even with a flashlight guiding his way. Through dense wood and on foot worn paths Jongdae is brought to the mouth of a cave. It is exactly as Jongdae imagined, as it had been described; dark, with the sound of water flowing throughout, echoing. He checks his watch, it’s only a quarter after seven.

Jongdae walks through the entrance and immediately feels the shift of temperature and energy; it feels as if time itself has stopped. He can’t see more than a few feet in front of him as he carries a small flashlight as his only source of light. But he smells more than he can see, the earthy wet dirt and rocks, the clean scent of moving water. Working at Junmyeon’s shop provides a lot of earthen scents and magic, but Jongdae has never experienced something as pure as the magic here in the Cave.

It’s humbling, being in such a place that’s been used for centuries for witches to call forth their magical companions. Everything feels cleaner; from the air to the magic. Jongdae takes deep, stabilizing, and grounding breaths and moves forward.

For several minutes he moves without rhyme nor reason, like a pull Jongdae follows the path into the cave, seeing different paths but steadfast in following the pull and the instinctual feelings he knows to obey, waiting to see where exactly he ends up. No place he's come across seems like the right place for calling his familiar. 

That force pulls him deeper into the cave, it's as if there’s a string knotted to his center which leads him until he reaches a small opening where there's a large hollow space, and water that gently cascades in small streams into a pool beneath, flowing underneath bedrock that no human can move through. The energy Jongdae feels is abundant and overwhelming in its power. It’s instinctual, to place his bag on the driest patch of ground a few meters into the hollowed area and prepare himself. Without questioning he knows this is where he needs to meditate and open the connection for his familiar. The pull from his center has stopped and Jongdae feels it relax and spread out away from him. He feels electrified, as if everything he's witnessing is through an overexposed lens, blurring into one another, smooth and flowing. Calm.

Now that he’s here, in the Cave, with all of the magic around him he is in a sort of trance, unbothered about his earlier qualms. Limits of time seem microscopic in comparison. Is that why Junmyeon was so unbothered by how late he was? Because he remembers this feeling? Or because he knew that it wouldn’t matter in the end if Jongdae was going to be late. Junmyeon probably knew before Jongdae was supposed to be at work that he would be late, his clairvoyance granting him a peek.

He checks his watch again, notices the minute hand has got stuck shortly after he last checked it, the seconds _tick, tick, tick_ stuck in time. Jongdae begins meditating, lowering the brightness of his flashlight. There’s a stream of moonlight that beams down from where the water falls.

Jongdae prepared everything he brought; his smoky quartz crystal for focus, his journal, and his pendant he removes from around his neck. 

He focuses on his intentions, his reason for entering the cave and who he is summoning. Holding his crystal at the hollow of his throat with his non-dominant hand, he uses his other to move his pendant in clockwise circles. He focuses and stirs the energy to a focal point in front of him. The shift is noticeable, and Jongdae is overcome with a calmness that he has acquired through years of spell meditation.

With his mind open, his body calm, can feel the energy from the floor of the cave, from the walls, and there’s still the point in front of him that swells and grows. The crystal is still cool against his skin, the pendant moves in its clockwise motions smooth and evenly.

There’s a sensation that isn’t unfamiliar, but that Jongdae cannot place. As if there are binds holding him in place, circling his chest, his arms, legs. With a deep breath he ceases the pendant circling, lets physics continue the motion and continues to hold the crystal to the base of his throat. He pictures himself sitting in the cave, the light illuminating the circumference of his staged area. Uses the law of attraction to summon his familiar.

Jongdae has reached his dream state, straddling the astral plane. 

_This moment,_ Jongdae concentrates, tries to visualize his familiar in the only way he can. As an energy forming with his, connected by the their magic, a give and take. 

_This moment, I call you to my side.  
This moment, let it connect with me._

~

To Jongdae it felt like the experience lasted an hour at most. Which, in the astral plane, in a pocket of so much energy and the center of intersecting leys, might have been the truth. He’s still unsure what transpired, or how long, because when he returned to Baekhyun's car, familiar cradled in his hands and the sky lighter than when he entered, he checked his phone and found it to only say he was gone for the entire night, and dawn was approaching.

Time, Jongdae recalls his mother telling him, in places of high energy and magic, can bend and wrinkle in a multitude of ways.

Jongdae feels the tension when he comes back to the apartment his hand held out for Baekhyun to meet his familiar who is situated in the center of Jongdae's palm.

“And what’s their name?” Baekhyun, for all his fears and reservations, is doing his best to remain calm. Noodle is sitting tall on the back of the couch, his favorite spot, tail flicking. Jongdae knew this was going to be an issue. 

Baekhyun’s always been terrified of spiders.

“Kumo,” Jongdae answers. Kumo raises one of its legs slowly, lowers it. In greeting, Jongdae muses. She’s small, her leg circumference at only about five centimeters. A pink-toe tarantula, Jongdae was able to deduce while he was still in the astral plane and Kumo introduced herself to him.

He was told, not from words, as he had expected but more of images. She hasn’t spoken to him since.

Though she’s small she has a large black body when compared to her legs, her hairs tickling the skin on his palm. At the end of each leg are her peachy pink ’toes’ as her common name describes.

Baekhyun looks pale and has his lips pursed and eyebrows furrowed leaving a line in his forehead. Jongdae knows he’s terrified, so he retracts his arm slowly and adjusts the grip on his bags which includes a lot of things he wasn’t anticipating on purchasing: a tank, substrate, and tiny water dish.

“I need to set up her terrarium.” Jongdae shuffles past Baekhyun who gives them a wide berth.

“I wanna hear about everything,” Baekhyun says. Jongdae nods, also eager to share his experience.

He clears a spot for Kumo on his dresser, placing her on his desk and intrinsically knowing she won’t move far and will wait for him to set up her home. He’s already learned the basics for tarantula ‘pet’-care. High humidity, taller enclosure rather than wider which opens on the lower half. She's an arboreal tarantula, likes being in trees, so all of this is to not disturb her web structures.

He wants to get plants from Junmyeon for her enclosure as well. It feels lacking, but when he opens the enclosure and handles Kumo into her home she enters without fuss.

Jongdae tries to connect and communicate, but it’s as silent as it was when he stopped meditating in the Cave.

He feels weird leaving her in his room while he goes to eat and talk to Baekhyun, so he gently picks up her enclosure and brings her with him into the living space.

“Are you just going to carry around her tank now?” Baekhyun asks, a teasing tone but sharpness evident, and Jongdae is tired already with what he knew was going to be trouble acclimating Baekhyun to Kumo.

“If I recall, you wouldn’t let Noodle out of your sight for a month. You'd lock him in the bathroom with you even when you showered.”

He doesn’t blame him for being scared, not directly. It’s a common fear to have so Jongdae gets it, but he just doesn’t want the potential of it to become a problem so he doesn’t mentioned how he wants to handle Kumo more than by just bringing her around in an enclosure.

They eat a breakfast of eggs and rice while Jongdae explains his experience in the Cave, the method he used to call Kumo to him. While Baekhyun doesn’t practice meditating, he does encourage it to his patients to get them to that deep space of calm before performing love sickness spells.

Kumo is on the table with them, and Noodle is sitting on one of the other chairs in lieu of Jongdae or Baekhyun's lap. He stares into the enclosure and Jongdae watches as there’s a shuffle of movement and Kumo moves, to what Jongdae can only assume, is stare back at Noodle.

“What are they talking about?” Jongdae asks Baekhyun.

“Noodle is blocking me right now,” Baekhyun replies, but from this angle he can see Noodle slowly blink at Kumo. Jongdae giggles, knowing from years of having feline familiars around him that Noodle is telling Kumo he’s safe here.

That’s one worry gone.

“He’s slow blinking at Kumo,” Jongdae coos, and interrupts their familiar bonding to scratch under his chin. “Good kitty~” 

Junmyeon preemptively gave him the day off, so once Baekhyun leaves the apartment Jongdae spends the time alone to research more about pink-toe tarantula care, letting Kumo out of her enclosure.

He ends up spending most of his day going back and forth between napping and watching Kumo with his body hunched over, head pillowed on his arms. Earlier he walked Kumo through the apartment, showing her the different house plants he’s accumulated throughout his tenure with Junmyeon. Without a mental bond he can only speak aloud, so he explains the differences and their care cards. Introduces her to his crystals and the candles his mother makes and sends.

There’s a connection, they’ve begun their bond, it’s undeniable after they worked on, comically enough, a spider plant. Its browning leaves Jongdae chalks up to him lazily using water from the faucet as opposed to distilled or natural rain. Normally Jongdae needs to wait at least a day to see results of green spell casting; with Kumo it was only a few hours later that the plant showed improvement.

Relief mixed with frustration, at their clear bond but lack of communication, leads Jongdae to meditating again. He tries to forge a line of connection but is unsuccessful. He doesn’t know how familiar bonds are supposed to work, only that they’re different on a case by case basis.

Junmyeon told him Gully was shifting between forms for a year before settling on their final form, between forms communication varied. Baekhyun and Noodle have been on the same wavelength since the moment they met. No one in his family had the same issues he’s had so far. None that they warned him about anyway.

Jongdae keeps the enclosure open so that if Kumo wants to go back she can on her own. After another unsuccessful attempt at trying to communicate Jongdae takes a hot shower and when he returns it to Kumo at the top of her enclosure, spinning a web.

~

Going back to work was something Jongdae looked forward to. He carried Kumo in her terrarium close to his chest, her first webbings coming along, excited to get more insight in communicating from Junmyeon, and working on their magic in the nursery.

He does not anticipate that when he gently coaxes her into her hand to meet Junmyeon, for Gully to hold a different type of interest. It was a tense minute, Jongdae creating a small cage with his hands when Gully tried to perch themselves on Jongdae’s forearm and get closer to what he could only assume Gully thought was a new snack.

This was only confirmed by Junmyeon frantically screeching and grabbing Gully with both hands kicking the door open and the raven croaking throughout the entirety of the event. When Junmyeon returns it’s with a look of horror. Horror Jongdae's sure he has mirrored on his own face in his own way.

There’s a burning itch on his fingers and when Jongdae opens his hands again there’s a patch of hair missing from the back of Kumo’s abdomen. She’s clearly terrified, and Jongdae can’t do anything to help; can’t reassure her non-verbally. He brings her back to her enclosure and she quickly scuffles off his hands and onto the substrate.

“I’m sorry, Kumo.” Jongdae says lowly, securing the latch of her enclosure and trying to direct a calm energy to her. Hoping he can penetrate the wall between them by force.

He’s brought back to the present when Junmyeon speaks up, “She’s kicked out for the foreseeable future. Claimed she didn’t know it was your familiar because she didn’t feel your magic on her.”

“That doesn’t make sense, Baekhyun’s familiar knew who she was immediately,” Jongdae retorts. He doesn’t blame Junmyeon but his frustration and heart rate is still high. “Why didn’t Gully?”

“Said she didn’t smell like you, didn’t look like you.”

“Look like— that still doesn’t make sense,” Jongdae’s annoyed, once again, that there isn’t a set guideline to how familiars and bonds are forged or how they work. “I can’t even— I don’t know how to talk to her,” Jongdae admits. 

The itch in his hands is becoming more than he can stand. “I need to wash my hands,” he explains, moving past Junmyeon. Holding his hands out from the rest of his body.

“What happened?” Junmyeon follows behind him.

"She got scared and kicked hairs off her back," he conveniently read about this while researching pet-care. "It’s arachnid defensive behavior. It just really itches.” He runs his hands under the warm water, lathers his hands up and gently washes, specifically between his fingers. It’s more of an inconvenience but getting it in his eyes on accident would actually suck.

“Can you tell me more about you connection,” Junmyeon’s mentor voice is on, “or the lack of it?” he gently amends.

“I don’t know, it’s just… not there.” Jongdae shuts the faucet, drying his hands on the back of his jeans. “When we bonded I was meditating and she found me. She told me her name…” he pauses, thinking if there was something he messed up. “After that I slowly left my meditative state and when we were together any form of contact was just— it was gone.”

After several minutes of Junmyeon grilling Jongdae about different things he’s done to try and forge the connection with Kumo they’re interrupted by the bell on the door signaling that someone’s entered the shop.

Junmyeon’s face slacks and his mouth opens into a long o-shape. “Yixing!” and quickly scuffles away to the front of the store. Jongdae follows behind grabbing a crate of things he helped prepare the other day in the event of Yixing’s pickup which they both conveniently forgot about in the chaos of their familiar emergency. 

Yixing has his own familiar with him, a ball python, light brown with black spindly markings along her back, coiled and wrapped tightly around his left forearm and wrist. Jongdae always thought she was pretty. Yixing looks the same as the last time he came to pick up an order of medicinal herbs that don’t fit in his own tiny garden, and more dangerous plants for his tonics and potions, hair short and black, contrasting with how light his skin and familiar are in comparison.

Everyone exchanges pleasantries as Jongdae hauls the large crate of supplies on the counter. Yixing is one of Junmyeon’s best customers, and one of his longest. 

“Junmyeon mentioned over the phone when confirming my order that you were in search of your familiar. I hope it was successful.”

Jongdae gave a slight nod of his head. “It was, thank you.”

“She’s a tarantula!” Junmyeon supplies and Jongdae wants to kick him at his quick and overeager reply.

“Ah!” Yixing exclaims, lifting his arm that holds his familiar, rotating his arm until her head is visible, “Jango, my familiar, their gene-type is referred to as a ’spider ball python’ because of how wiry the black markings on her back are.” She moves then, away from Yixing’s wrist and out across the counter to Junmyeon and Jongdae.

Jongdae doesn’t mean to but he snorts at the slight humor in the coincidence. He holds his arm out for Jango while Yixing gently helps uncoil her from his arm passing her over. She’s always been a social, docile girl. She reflects that part of Yixing well.

Jongdae holds her up closer to his face, the rest of her body still wrapping itself around his forearm as her tongue flicks in and out. Serpents were great for the type of work Yixing did, their shedding skin useful for spells in for illness and longevity. Constantly leaving behind negativity and illness, disallowing them to grow. A good familiar.

“Did everything go well?” Yixing asks, tone light, but when Jongdae makes eye contact it's knowing. Jongdae lowers Jango slightly from his face.

“For the most part—” he replies, but not before he's cut off by Junmyeon.

“They're not fully connected. He has no idea what she's thinking. They can't talk to each other,” he spews out quickly, “Gully actually attacked her, when I was being introduced, because she didn’t realize they were bonded. Literally just before you got here… It was messy.”

Jongdae feels the tickle of Jango's tongue on his forearm. He wants to step on Junmyeon’s foot for blabbing about his familiar problems.

“Jango can tell,” Yixing replies, and Junmyeon pouts, "but she has much better scent than a raven,” he supplies and Junmyeon still pouts but it’s less pathetic.

“Yixing is also well versed in familiar bonds,” Junmyeon exclaims, as if it was something he just remembered. “Didn’t you help an old colleague with their bond?”

“Just a friend, but all I did was talk and offer advice.” Yixing smiles, his dimple apparent on his cheek. Jongdae frequently gets the desire to poke his pinky in there, see how deep it actually goes. “He works as a geomancer now, he’s very good at what he does.” 

“Geomancer?” Jongdae asks.

“He works with the earth elements, right?” Junmyeon supplies as an answer.

“It’s actually a lot more than that, but I don't understand much so it’s a little difficult to explain,” Yixing says, and returns to the original point— “Every connection is different but due to my practice of health and auras I have a very deep connection with the astral plane,” Yixing explains, and it kind of goes over Jongdae’s head. “If you’d like I can offer my help.”

Jango starts to wander, becoming more active the longer Jongdae holds her. Yixing offers to take her back and Jongdae uncoils the lower half of her from his wrist and passes her over the counter again.

“It’s only been one day,” Jongdae begins, “I want to try a few more things on my own, but I appreciate the offer.”

“Of course,” Yixing says, “but Jango is quite curious. Do you mind if we at least meet her?”

A little shocked, Jongdae nods his head in response, “Sure,” and Junmyeon shows Yixing back into the room where Kumo is in her enclosure, holding herself in the beginnings of her webbing.

“This is Kumo,” Jongdae watches as Yixing removes Jango from his wrist and places her on the wooden work table; coiled in her ball, head peeking out from the center as she watches on as well. Yixing then gets level with her enclosure, squatting to be eye-level. “On another day I would let you handle her if you were comfortable but—” 

“No need, she’s unfortunately too tense from earlier.” Yixing gently cuts him off. 

That’s interesting… that Yixing knows. From Jango? Presumably.

“She’s very beautiful,” Yixing comments, standing tall from his squatted position, leaving Jango on the table as she continues to stare at the enclosure and flick her tongue out every few seconds.

Jongdae can hear the sincerity in Yixing’s voice and he's grateful, because he agrees and he knows that tarantulas aren’t universally seen as desirable as Baekhyun’s cat or even Junmyeon’s sleek black raven. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Yixing says and then takes a deep breath in, “I better get going, though. It’s been a nice visit.” He picks up Jango and has her wrap around his neck, making almost two full rotations. She’s big, definitely over two feet, but Yixing says she won’t get much bigger.

At the front of the store Yixing holds the crate Jongdae had brought to the front and bows in thanks to Junmyeon and Jongdae. “Good luck with your connection, Jongdae. Please let me know if I can help in anyway.”

“Yeah, of course… thanks.”

“Just so you know,” Yixing says, a knowing tone laced through his words, “She’s trying, too. Spiders speak softly, but have much to teach. Keep working together,” and he exits through the door, the bell ringing as he walks with his plants and familiar to his car to leave.

~

Jongdae walks through aisle five where there’s heating bulbs and terrarium decorations, all to reach where he buys crickets for Kumo. He can’t stop himself from impulsively grabbing a new branch for her to climb into the top corner where her webbings are.

He’s internally debating the pros and cons of keeping and feeding his own crickets to cut down on trips to the store when he spots a familiar looking person having their own internal debate in front of the basking bulbs at the end of aisle five. It takes a moment before the recognition kicks in, a moment because instead of casual clothes with undone hair he’s wearing a suit, hair gelled back stiff and to the side.

As Jongdae makes the connection that he's the man who came in to purchase a non-enchanted chrysanthemum arrangement he simultaneously looks up and they make eye contact; Jongdae sees the realization hit him in real time. Jongdae, with a box of crickets and a decorative branch in his hands can only nod his head in hello and before he can stop himself, his mouth is already moving.

“Did that bouquet bring any luck?”

“It’s only been a few days,” he replies. The man looks much older than he had when he visited the shop. Less like someone who wanted to buy flowers because he believed they granted more than a pretty sight, more like someone who would scoff at magic in general.

He’s not sure what he expected but he’s surprised at himself for initiating conversation in the middle of a pet supply store. There’s the hollow _tap tap tap_ of the half dozen crickets jumping in the cardboard box. The man has expressive eyes and a pretty mouth. Jongdae deliberately decides to focus on a point over his shoulder instead.

“Well, come visit again once they start dying for a replacement. If you let Junmyeon, my boss, enchant them they should last longer as well.”

The man stares and blinks a few times, and Jongdae wonders if he remembers to breathe as he watches his cheeks flush a light pink.

“Okay. Thanks.”

“See you later!” Jongdae, slightly mortified at his garish attempts for small talk, promptly turns on his heels and hides on the checkout line, staring at either his own shoes or the different toys and treats for last minute purchases.

Back at the apartment, and slightly embarrassed, he explains to Baekhyun his run-in at the supply store while he carefully lets the few gut-filled crickets loose into Kumo’s terrarium. Baekhyun is sitting in the chair at Jongdae’s desk, chin resting in his hands while he watches Jongdae and thus, Kumo.

Baekhyun is quick to admonish Jongdae. “You’re usually better at flirting than that.”

“I wasn’t trying to flirt,” Jongdae berates. He really wasn’t, he was just surprised to see him. Especially dressed in a suit of all things. And why would he flirt in the middle of aisle five of the super plus pet supply store—

Baekhyun’s giggle cuts off his thought, “Intentional or not, you’ve always been a flirt.”

Jongdae frowns at that. He never _means_ to be flirty. Most of the time he doesn’t realize what he’s doing is considered by most people as flirty. He shakes the last cricket from the cardboard box and latches the tank closed.

“I was just being nice.”

Hands supporting his own head, Baekhyun’s shoulders rise and fall in a shrug and he watches Kumo as she quickly moves from the top of her enclosure to the bottom where the crickets are.

Baekhyun lets out a wistful sigh as he continues to watch Kumo, and pointedly not look at Jongdae. “Then maybe you should stop being so nice, that way people stop thinking you’re flirting with them.” Kumo quickly snatches a cricket and begins to feed while Baekhyun wears a slight grimace.

“You don’t have to watch if it creeps you out.” Jongdae says, and Baekhyun really does frown in response.

“It’s exposure therapy,” he replies. “The more I’m around it the less it’ll affect me,” he explains. Jongdae leaves him to it, looks for the package that also arrived this evening from his mother.

“Does that mean you’re ready to handle her?” Jongdae asks, pulling out the candle she has personally made and then sent; candle making is something his mother does as a hobby, and he loves her candles.

Baekhyun lets out a low whine. “Ahh, no,” he answers. “Not yet, thank you.”

Jongdae can’t help but give a small smile at that, but holds back the giggle, grateful he’s at least trying. He lights one of the pine scented candles she sent him. He can hear her voice in his head when he read her note in the package that arrived in the mail after he told her about his inability to communicate with Kumo.

_Pine is great for cultivating a learning environment and helps with your ability to be understood clearly._

When Baekhyun retires to the other room Jongdae focuses on meditation. With his pendant on and his mothers pine scented candle to promote communication he sits on the floor at the edge of his bed and focuses.

Intentions, Jongdae knows, are important.

~

It’s on a Thursday, a week later, that finds Jongdae handling Kumo while on a video chat with his brother.

“Freaky,” Jongdeok, slightly grainy over the wifi connection, says in response to his little brothers familiar. “Doesn’t it skeeve you out, like, at all?”

“Maybe if she wasn’t my familiar, but she’s sweet.” Jongdae replies. She’s very active right now, and moves fast across his palms, her colored ’toes’ slightly pulling with each release from his skin. It’s an odd sensation. "The more I read,” Jongdae continues, “the more I think they’re misunderstood and — honestly the more you look at them the less creepy they are.” It’s hard not to defend Kumo, who he’s learned will grow to be up to about 12cm with her leg span. She’s labeled as ‘medium-fast’ as far as growth rate is concerned. 

“You just used to be so terrified of spiders,” Jongdeok tells him, “nightmares when you were sick, without fail.”

Jongdae can tell he makes a face at that remark, because doesn’t remember that. He remembers being scared of spiders, most people are inherently wary. Something to do with primal instincts and your brain screaming, _poisonous! do not touch!_ but Jongdae always thought he held a distant respect for them. Stay in your area, no harm no foul.

“I’m serious,” Jongdeok continues, “when you were a kid you’d get feverish and hallucinate about spiders everywhere. Black, hairy spiders.” The audio is kind of patchy, Jongdae struggles to listen, hums along in response for him to continue. “You said they would be fighting each other in front of you, on top of you. One time, while you were sick on the couch mom had to calm you down because you said there was a large black and red spider following you, but when you got better you never remembered it. It was pretty weird, to be honest.”

“Yeah, I definitely don’t remember that,” Jongdae feels Kumo move across his hand and he lowers her to the desk, she steps herself off and Jongdae lets her do her own thing, her enclosure open should she want to go back in. “I mean, I never really liked them? But I also —” he hesitates, trying to find the right words, “I dunno, I kind of just distantly let them do their own thing.”

“I just think it’s funny you had all of those nightmares and hallucinations about spiders and end up with a fucking tarantula familiar,” Jongdeok explains, “like, that’s weird?”

“Maybe,” Jongdae replies. There’s a brief pause where Jongdae isn’t sure what to say next.

“Have you done any weather spells?” his brother asks, with stiff casualness.

“None that worked,” Jongdae admits. His brother nods, like he understands why. Which, Jongdae surmises, he does even if he doesn’t really _get it_. He tried calling a wind, unsuccessfully. He used to be able to call winds and within two minutes blustering gusts would make their way through their family neighborhood, knocking over lawn chairs and rippling the wind chimes throughout the whole block—much to the dismay of his mother.

When he tried with Kumo there was only a breeze so minuscule he wasn’t even sure if they were even the cause.

But now it's getting late, this was only supposed to be a short call, which evolved into a video call, and it’s thirty minutes later that the brothers say their goodbyes and disconnect.

Kumo has made her way back into her enclosure, and Jongdae latches her in. He pulls for a connection again, tries for an agonizing two minutes. He feels like he’s shouting into a void, searching for something that doesn’t want to be found.

He gives up, frustrated, and goes for a warm shower.

Afterwards, while Jongdae lays in bed feeling dejected and defeated he hovers over the number in his contacts he got from Junmyeon at work last week. He figures it couldn’t hurt, since he’s apparently helped someone before in a similar situation; he texts Yixing.

~

Jongdae is tending and checking on the queen of the night when he tells Junmyeon about his tentative plans to meet Yixing over the weekend, and Junmyeon’s reaction is only what Jongdae can describe as guarded joy. He looks almost relieved at the prospect before quickly shuffling it away with a light cough and a big warm smile.

“I think this’ll be really good for you,” he follows up. “Yixing’s a great person.” He seems almost wistful, and Jongdae can see his thoughts go somewhere else. Somewhere that isn’t here in the backroom of the nursery.

Just as he’s about to comment on it, maybe tease Junmyeon, the bell connected to the front door chimes and both of them are dislodged from their thoughts. Jongdae takes the lead, entering the shop front to greet their customer.

It’s him again. The one who bought the mums and was seen browsing heating bulbs in aisle five. He’s in dress pants with a button down shirt, hair gelled back and wearing his usual dark rimmed glasses. He looks… expensive. And Jongdae is suddenly aware of the dirt trapped underneath his fingernails. He clasps his hands and hides them behind his back.

“How can I help you today?” He asks, beaming a smile at him. “Another arrangement?”

“Oh,” he seems surprised to see Jongdae too, like he forgot Jongdae works here. “Yes, please. I also want to buy a devil’s ivy.”

“That's a great leafy plant. They can handle a lot.”

“I know, it’s for someone else. They’re not very good at taking care of plants. I figured it’d be good for their office.” He pauses and there’s a slight blush that grazes his cheeks. “Sorry— you don’t need to know all of that.”

Jongdae waves him off, “What do they do?” he opts to continue the small talk as he proceeds to show them where they have a small selection of devil’s ivy already potted. 

He seems hesitant for the briefest of moments before answering. “She’s a psychic. My mom.” Nonchalant, normal. And it is, at least for Jongdae, who nods in appreciation.

“That’s cool, man.” He gestures to the wall of leafy plants and points out the devil’s ivy. “There’s a few in the back as well should these not give the right energy."

He hovers for a moment before he grabs one from the wall. "This one is good."

"And you said you wanted another arrangement of chrysanthemums? Still not enchanted?"

"Yes, thank you.” Jongdae walks back to grab an arrangement of mums but is stopped as he calls out again. “The narcissus were good too, if you have them as well.”

“Of course!” Jongdae hopes he doesn’t sound overeager in his attempt to help this customer.

In the back Junmyeon has a pout on his face again. “I just don't understand why he wants an arrangement for a specific reason but doesn't want them enchanted for that reason.”

“Maybe because his family has magic, too. He said they’re for his mom, and she’s a psychic. He might want to do his own thing with them.”

Jongdae arranges the flowers for their still nameless customer. "Don't whine, Junmyeon-hyung. He's still coming to get the best flowers grown by us.” Jongdae lilts his voice a little. The easiest way to get Junmyeon in a good mood is to compliment and tease him simultaneously.

Jongdae returns to the front room, arrangement in hand, to find Kyungsoo staring intently at Kumo, who was in her 'work' terrarium. Jongdae got tired and daunted by carrying her whole terrarium so he decided to simply provide her with a second one. She's only started her upper corner webbings, so she's easy to spot, clinging on the glass.

“That's Kumo, my familiar.” Jongdae places the arrangement down on the counter next to the devil’s ivy that’s to be purchased as well.

Startled, the customer jumps back a little. "Oh, a tarantula?"

"_Avicularia avicularia_ is the scientific name. Pink toe tarantula, native to South America.” Jongdae lists the facts, in bullets from memory from the site he found the information on.

He found a lot of care information, but not a lot of magical information. Apparently not many people have arachnids as familiars, and the ones that do, don’t need to be scouring the internet for information.

“She seems sweet.”

“She is. Like witch like familiar, if that’s how the saying goes.”

Kyungsoo laughs, a pretty sound. His face scrunches cutely that Jongdae pointedly ignores. Jongdae rings him up, and because he’s nosy and also trying to be the best employee possible, asks if he would like to join their customer data base.

“It’s used mostly so that we can keep a record of your previous purchases should you have any questions or perhaps don’t remember what that one herb or plant used during a spell did, if it elevated or threw off the whole thing. Quite useful.”

He’s just a pink faced blushing man, stiff hair and expressive eyes showing nothing more than attentiveness, but he agrees.

After they exchanged names, a 'Do Kyungsoo' had been entered into Junmyeon’s catalog of reoccurring customers. There’s a small smile from him as he gathers his items to leave. “See you later, Jongdae.”

~

Saturday evening, only a few days after reaching out to him, Jongdae brings Kumo with him to meet Yixing at his clinic. It’s his day off from working with Junmyeon, and most Saturdays involved working on his own house plants, casting small spells and charms to influence their growth. Instead he was cradling his tarantula familiar in its enclosure close to his chest to try and see if there was something a medi-witch could do to help open a pathway to communicating with his most valuable partner.

Jongdae knocks on the side entrance— instructions given when they planned this meeting— Yixing's clinic closed for the rest of the day. The forecast called for spring rain, and just as it’s beginning to drizzle Yixing opens the door, Jango wrapped loosely around his shoulders and neck. “Hey, come in!” he fully opens the door and Jongdae steps in, taking his shoes off and leaving them with the other pair by the door.

Jongdae bows, “Thank you for agreeing to help,” he raises himself and Yixing just smiles in response.

“Of course, of course—” Yixing’s familiar moves down to his arm to what Jongdae can only assume is a better view of Kumo. “She’s very curious about Kumo. She's been looking forward to this evening.”

“Really?” Jongdae’s slightly taken aback, “Is familiar relations something you do on the side or something?”

Yixing moves and gestures for Jongdae to follow him to what Jongdae assumes is a back room, one that looks a lot like Junmyeon’s nursery, but on a much smaller scale. The room is filled with greenery and dirt; mostly plants and herbs Jongdae recognizes: lavender, basil, mint, but also larger leafy plants that Jongdae is sure he’s seen, but can’t place a name.

“Hmm, yes and no,” comes Yixing’s reply to Jongdae’s question. “It’s more something that simply comes with how I practice being a medi-witch. There’s time when we need to cut off a connection between ourselves and our familiars, as well as knowing how to re-open it. Illness doesn’t pass through bonds and connections, but if you’re too open,” Yixing gestures for Jongdae to sit on one of the four padded wicker chairs available. He does, placing Kumo’s container on the short table, that’s littered with dirt, notes, and other potted plants, closer to the edge, “If you’re too open then you run the risk of putting a strain on your familiar, who will feel side-effects of your illness,” Yixing explains.

“So, yes. Witch to familiar relations are something I work with daily, but usually it is with temporarily _closing_ connections as opposed to opening a newly blossomed one.”

Yixing removes Jango from him gently, placing her on the table, and she moves and physically wraps her body around Kumo’s container. Jongdae shifts, the wicker chair creaking in response. Yixing has always been a friendly acquaintance, and now he’s offering to help Jongdae for nothing— he asked if he could pay, and Yixing refuted so quickly— “Are you sure…” Jongdae starts to question, again, and Yixing looks authoritative in his gaze, “I want to pay you.”

“I’m receiving more discounts and freebie’s from Junmyeon that is probably causing a deficit in his sales, Jongdae.” Yixing breaks his eye contact to glance around his own greenhouse, “Most of these plants are from Junmyeon, and I owe a lot to the work you do with him. If you are able to bridge the connection with Kumo and tap into more magic and energy who knows what else you would be able to do. I’m eager to help, I hope you continue to work with him, and accept what I can offer in exchange for more of your green magic.”

That’s a lot for Jongdae to unpack. But he hooks onto the last point, “Green magic?”

“Yes,” Yixing replies, moving to the edge of his seat, as if Jongdae opened a can of worms that he’s begging to excavate and explain. “Your magic… it’s very green. So we’ll start there— magic always leaves traces. Most people who are attuned can feel the presence of that magic.”

Jongdae nods, he knows this. He can feel magic everywhere; in the air, the grass, the candles his mother crafts, the food he buys from the street vendor when he and Baekhyun go shopping for spell supplies.

“Magic also leaves other kinds of traces, visual ones. Are you familiar with auras?” Yixing asks.

“Vaguely?” Jongdae answers, “I know what they are but I can’t see or read them so I don’t know what any of it means,” he admits, slightly embarrassed at how much of an amateur witch he feels in front of Yixing, especially knowing he’s only a handful of years older than him.

“No worries,” Yixing continues. “Aura’s can change from minute to minute, or hold a steady shade throughout a long period of time. Usually people have layers of various colors and shades, built on a steady base. The way it manifests itself, for me, is like a cloud,” he motions with his hands, forming shape around Jongdae’s outer body and he suddenly feels… seen.

“Junmyeon, for instance,” Yixing continues, “has always had a very blue based aura, with strong lines of silver and green.”

“Can you see my aura now? Is it something you have to focus on or is it just… how you see the world?” Jongdae asks.

“It used to be out of control, and I had to practice keeping it at bay. Now it’s as simple as switching a light for me. Generally, unless I’m working with a patient, don’t just go around looking at people with their auras. I found it to be a form of judgment that grew to leave a bitter taste behind. Of course, I occasionally slip. Especially if I don’t have Jango with me.” Yixing pauses, and Jongdae absorbs all of this information as thoroughly as possible. “Do you want to know yours?”

Jongdae, nervous but intrigued, nods. The pitter-patter of light raindrops growing to the clear signs of a rain shower. He can’t remember if the forecast called for heavy rain, but he suddenly wonders if he put the bucket out on the balcony to collect rainwater for his plants.

Yixing sits straighter, and does a full body scan of Jongdae that brings him back to now, leaves him with goosebumps. He doesn’t think it’s from anything Yixing did, more just at the reaction of being looked at so thoroughly, a layer of himself that he doesn’t even understand being seen.

Yixing sits back and re-connects eye contact. “Please know I spoke with Junmyeon before today and he’s given me permission to speak of him as an example,” Jongdae nods, completely lost and slightly uncomfortable at how formal Yixing is speaking, and not sure where this was going. “Junmyeon’s aura shows several things. With auras it’s less about defining a person and more about understanding a person. His base aura, a deep royal blue, manifests as intuition. It portrays his relationship with Gully as they are both gifted with clairvoyance, a sixth sense for that could happen. You and Junmyeon share auras as well, can you guess which?”

Jongdae shakes his head. He gets along with Junmyeon, but he wouldn’t say they have similar magical talents or could share similar auras.

“Green is abundant in both of you. It’s reflected in the work you do as witches. Your shades are slightly off, but it’s unmistakeable that due to all of the work you’ve done that you have an affinity toward green magic and have, as those without magic call it, a ‘green thumb.’” 

“You said that Junmyeon’s base aura was royal blue, what of mine? Does it have anything to do with…” Jongdae shuffles his hands in the air, looking for the words, “With being unable to work with Kumo?”

“Yes,” Yixing answers resolutely, “I believe it does.”

Jongdae slumps back into his chair, glancing at Kumo’s enclosure and Jango who are still staring at each other, if that’s what it can be called. He feels relief for the first time since he’s bonded with Kumo. The first time Jongdae feels like there’s been an advancement since the moment he left the Cave. But the relief is brief, and reality slowly crashes him back down until his legs feel like lead and he’s just as confused as before. 

“What’s wrong with me?” Jongdae implores, now that he’s found the relief in knowing there’s something to fix, he’s quickly back to being frustrated that there’s something to fix in the first place.

“Did you know that familiars have auras as well?” Yixing asks. Jongdae doesn’t answer, just waits for Yixing to continue, because he doesn’t see where Yixing’s thought is going. “Most of the time auras align between a witch and their familiar, and one’s base aura matching. Mine and Jango having turquoise based auras. Junmyeon and Gully their royal blue.”

Jongdae can follow the end of Yixing’s point, “Kumo and I have different auras,” it was meant to come out as a question, but Yixing doesn’t refute it.

“You have a very earthy aura on the edges, but right now it’s muddy.”

“Muddy?”

“I don’t want to come off as if I’m sounding like a doctor,” The rain is coming down heavy now, Yixing moves forward and grabs Jango by her midsection, uncoiling her and having her wrap around his wrist instead of Kumo’s enclosure, “But that’s what I am, so I’m sorry for sounding so clinical. You don’t need to explain anything you don’t want, but your aura is very intriguing. If you’re holding onto something that should keep you from moving forward, I think that would be the base of whatever is keeping you from finishing your connection with Kumo.”

Jongdae begins to chew on him bottom lip, an old habit he tries to break himself from, but always sneaks its way back.

“How is it intriguing?”

“It spirals. Its center is a dark gray, and almost like, a cloud is spirals out to a murky brown into your greens. Dark earthy browns and gray tells us that there’s blocked energy and power.”

Jongdae fixates on the first part of Yixing’s explanation, “Spirals? Like a storm? A cyclone?” Jongdae deflates, into his chair again, lower. But he can’t help himself, he opens the bottom of Kumo’s enclosure and holds his hand out for her. She comes easily.

“Exactly!” Yixing emphasizes, and is clearly excited that Jongdae has taken Kumo out. Jongdae belatedly realizes that Yixing’s never actually seen Kumo this close. He offers her for Yixing to handle, who enthusiastically holds his free hand out for Kumo to move onto.

“Do auras usually move like that? Spiral and blend to other colors?”

Yixing, with a Kumo in one hand and Jango wrapped around the other, hums in thought before answering, “I would say it’s uncommon. Most auras that I come across and study are more like static clouds, rippling off the person.”

So it’s just painful irony that Jongdae’s manifests itself as a typhoon. Okay.

Jongdae sighs. The rain outside is loud and he remembers he has to carry Kumo with him and, great; he doesn’t have an umbrella either.

“I think,” Yixing begins, gently, breaking his own contact with Kumo to give his attention back to Jongdae, “That if your aura is stuck as this brown muddy color, you need to let go of something that’s holding you back. Again, you are not obligated to tell me what that could be, if you even know what could be, but moving past that is the first step.”

Jongdae’s more than sure he knows what it is. He nods, and holds his hand out for Kumo and gently leads her back to her terrarium, locking her in so they can get home as easily as possible. 

Yixing stands, and Jongdae follows suit. Jongdae, not wanting to deal with the rain in anyway with Kumo to carry, calls them a cab. It’s not a far drive, and Jongdae would rather pay for a cab than deal with a full bus with damp bodies.

They reach the side door where, after putting his shoes back on, Yixing hands Jongdae an umbrella. Jongdae didn’t even see him grab one.

“Please borrow this, you can return it to me next time.” Yixing doesn’t allow room for negotiation, and Jongdae accepts it graciously.

“Next time?” he asks.

“Yes, I’ll be in soon for another order,” and Yixing then goes to hand him a book Jongdae didn’t see him grab either, “and I’m sorry for assigning homework, but I think the best way to move forward in your bond is to do some self-reflection. Auras are great for understanding yourself. There are no bad aura colors,” Yixing stresses, “this is simply knowledge that indicates you need to work on certain aspects of your energy, and what could be blocked and why.”

Jongdae nods, trying to hide how solemn he feels inside. He’s out of hands to grab Yixing’s book, one holding the umbrella and the other arm holding the terrarium close to his chest. Yixing puts it in Jongdae’s messenger bag, loops it over his shoulder for him.

“That book might be useful to you. Skim it and let me know. Good luck Jongdae, and thank you for trusting me.”

“Thank you…” Jongdae isn’t sure what to thank first. Before he can figure out what to list first his phone buzzes and chimes in his pocket. With a glance outside he can see his ride is here. “Thank you.” Jongdae repeats, a blanket statement for now.

Yixing opens the door for him, and with Kumo pressed close to his chest with one hand and the umbrella opened in the other, covering them both from the rain, Jongdae goes to the cab.

On the drive back there’s a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder. Jongdae sighs; dejected and discouraged.


	2. Chapter 2

Jongdae moves through his days with the words Yixing said in the front of his mind.

_You need to let go of something that’s holding you back … the best way to move forward in your bond is to do some self-reflection._

So he meditates. A lot. Nearly every night after he’s come home from working with Junmyeon tending the plants and compiling orders for their slew of customers. He forgets the book Yixing let him borrow, only remembering it at the most inconvenient times; on the bus on his way to work, grabbing coffee during his break, watching t.v. with Baekhyun.

The queen of the night is looking healthy, at least. A few bulbs appearing throughout the trellis to potentially bloom soon. Jongdae wants to make sure he witnesses them; they bloom at night, and emit a strong fragrance, but it’s for one night only and then they close and that’s it.

It’d be upsetting if he missed it, after taking care of it for such a long time and nursing it back to health.

Junmyeon has, for the most part, kept to himself regarding Jongdae meeting with Yixing. Junmyeon doesn’t question the details of what happened with Yixing, but he does question about other things.

Namely when the business man with the big eyes is going to let him enchant an arrangement for him. After the third time Junmyeon mentions it, even if the subtlest of ways, Jongdae cracks.

“I don’t know, why don’t you give him a call. You have his information in your customer log, you can ask him yourself.”

Junmyeon scoffs and swats Jongdae’s suggestion away with his hand, going back in to add peat moss to a plastic container to re-home a newer addition; a _dionaea muscipula_, a venus fly trap. It’s smaller that he would have anticipated, each stem holding a trap-leaf standing at approximately 3-5cm. Junmyeon says each stalk could grow to about 10cm. This one in particular has five leaves and Jongdae loves it.

“I was under the impression that you were on friendlier terms with him.” Junmyeon chides.

“Where did you get that impression?”

Junmyeon just smiles his knowing smile and pours some water for the fly trap. Gully croaks from her perch in the nursery and Jongdae groans. They’re in on it together to tease him mercilessly. Jongdae sprays the mister in Junmyeon’s direction, knowing he’s too far away for it to actually reach him. But it’s the act itself that gives him a little peace of mind.

Junmyeon stops teasing and the day passes by easily. The weather is colder than usual for the season, so Jongdae opts to leave Kumo in his apartment instead of lugging her around on public transportation. It isn’t ideal; the best place to practice magic is at the shop with the most eclectic and widest variation of plant genotypes to work with.

But, the more he learns the more he realizes how solitary his familiar is; a part of him (so small and shallow it dries up before the thought is even formed) is a little disheartened that he doesn’t have a social animal like Baekhyun or Junmyeon. Like Cheol.

The thought comes and goes, and the drop of guilt and shame he has for it is enough to cloud his thoughts for the rest of the day, and he moves on auto-pilot until it’s time for him to make his way back home.

He checks his phone, which had been untouched for the past hour, and there’s a message from Baekhyun.

_can u get some more rosemary tea and motherwort? i have a last minute person coming over tomorrow. no time :(_

_okaaaay 😒_ Jongdae replies. It’s not a big favor, Jongdae loves visiting the old lady who owns their favorite tea and trinket shop. He believes the old woman when she claims they soothe more than what you can buy in bulk at the store, and they do more than what Jongdae and Baekhyun can do if they try to add any supplementary spells to their own store bought teas.

When he arrives a short time later he’s warped into her shop. It has a very earthen and woody aroma, smoky from the incense that burns on a constant loop. It’s a small and cramped place. One wall is stacked high with books, while the opposite holds rows of incense and crystals. Behind the counter is dozen of loose leaf teas, labeled and organized methodically and all of them sealed tight to avoid any potential cross contamination—aromatic or magic. Most of the light is from candles and oil lamps; Jongdae is terrified that one day someone is just going to knock something over and the place will go up in flames.

The first time he popped into her tiny little shop, big enough to fit maybe four people at a time, not including her stationary post behind the counter, he felt intimidated by the amount magic and energy that permeated the small area. He discovered this place shortly after moving to the city with Baekhyun. He really had nothing to be intimidated by, as she was simply a soft spoken granny, though the amount of magic in her was palpable.

So Jongdae can’t help but let out an, “Oh!” of surprise when he walks in to see Kyungsoo standing behind the counter with her. His attire is similar to what he last saw him in, dress pants and shirt with his slicked back hair. Though, Jongdae notes, his hair seems to have fallen in the front, a wisp that comes down between his brows. It’s enrapturing and distracting all at once.

Kyungsoo pauses for a moment, trying to school his face into one that perhaps isn’t as surprised as Jongdae's. “Jongdae, hey,” he greets.

“Kyungsoo,” Jongdae replies in greeting. He gives a bow to the granny who’s eyes are shining brighter than her smile.

“Kyungsoo, this is my favorite customer. Where did you meet?” there’s a hint of mirth in her tone as she asks. Jongdae cuts in before Kyungsoo can answer, emboldened.

“Kyungsoo is _my_ new favorite customer from Junmyeon’s shop.”

She lets out a roar of laughter, louder than Jongdae would expect from someone in such a small body. It’s always a little warm inside the tea shop, and Jongdae feels it creep up his neck. Kyungsoo must feel it too, his cheeks a flush of color.

“How interesting!” she says, “Kyungsoo is my youngest grandson. He came by today to help with some rearranging,” Jongdae can’t see a difference in the layout of her shop, he would have noticed it by now. He locks eyes and raises his eyebrows and glances around in question at Kyungsoo, who merely shrugs as his answer. 

“What will you be needing today?” she inquires.

The incense is thick, and Jongdae and Kyungsoo still haven’t broken eye contact. “Rosemary tea and motherwort,” Jongdae replies finally breaking their gaze. “Some of the Ginko as well please.” The last addition a spur of the moment choice, but one he thinks will be beneficial; a tea he likes for mental clarity and stabilized emotions.

Kyungsoo doesn’t say a word as Jongdae catches up with his favorite tea lady, but he’s acutely aware of his eyes gazing upon him. Jongdae isn’t easily shaken, and it’s only when she’s finished ringing him up that he lifts his eyes to meet Kyungsoo’s, and Jongdae is more intrigued by this person than he ever intended to be.

There’s a knock on his ankle that forces him to take a side step backwards. It's a tortoise, and if Jongdae could guess about 30cm long, its head strikingly light in color, almost white, with black beaded eyes. He’s never seen it here before, but it’s a beautiful tortoise, and one that moves past Jongdae without a care as they make their way toward Kyungsoo. And it clicks.

“_Indotestudo elongata_, elongated tortoise,” Kyungsoo’s voice is deep and steady. “My familiar.”

“They’re beautiful,” Jongdae compliments, and it feels like the temperature is getting warmer inside. Kyungsoo’s face still a light pink.

“Thanks.”

There’s an awkward tension in the air. Jongdae’s paid and holding his bag of items awkwardly in his hands. “I better be going, my roommate, they’re the ones who needed most of this so—”

“You’ve done everything needed today, dear,” and this is the old woman, gently shooing her grandson from behind the counter. “Go on, git.”

He seems a little put off by his grandmother pushing him out, but Jongdae finds it cute. “I’ll wait, if you want to walk together,” Jongdae boldly offers. He lives a short walk away, but he’ll have to pass both the bus stop and the train station to get back to his apartment, and if that’s the likely direction Kyungsoo will be moving in…

“Okay,” Kyungsoo breathes out, and he disappears to the back room and comes out with what looks like a cat carrier. Jongdae is curious, and it isn’t until Kyungsoo walks to the tortoise does he realize that’s who it’s for.

He watches as Kyungsoo squats to pick the tortoise up and place them gently inside the bag. He gives his grandmother a kiss on the cheek goodbye, and Jongdae bows before he walks out the door. “Thank you again!”

“Tell Baekhyunnie I said hello.” She calls out after him, and Jongdae promises he will.

When they’re back outside, the air thick with humidity, Jongdae glances down at the carrier over Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

“I love that,” Jongdae sighs, trying not to laugh, gesturing to the tortoise strapped to Kyungsoo’s side. They’re stationary outside his grandmothers shop, Kyungsoo still as interesting as he’s been since Jongdae first saw him.

“It’s effective,” he shrugs. “Toward the station?”

“I’m going that way, but I only live a bit further past. Your grandmother’s tea shop is my favorite.”

There’s a small quirk to his lip, but even the smallest movement seems noticeable with how full his mouth is. “Mine too.”

They make idle small chat for the few minutes they’re walking together. Jongdae learns that Kyungsoo visits his grandmother’s shop regularly, and they’re both surprised it’s taken them so long to run into the other.

“I’m getting suspicious,” Jongdae teases, “that we keep running into each other so frequently all of a sudden.” He remembers the awkward encounter in the pet supply store. “Were you buying a basking bulb for your familiar?”

Kyungsoo nods. “I was, I bought the wrong watt and had to exchange it.”

“I was buying crickets for my familiar, but she didn’t eat them all,” Jongdae remembers opening the terrarium, collecting the leftover crickets Kumo didn’t eat, “I didn’t know what to do so I just… let them go outside.”

Kyungsoo laughs, it’s a small one, but it feels like a victory to Jongdae, who loves sharing laughs.

They reach the station and, emboldened by making Kyungsoo laugh, or maybe it’s his own intuition, he pulls his phone out of his pocket, gesturing for Kyungsoo to take it. “Can I have your number?”

Kyungsoo and his big expressive eyes widen for a moment, before he smirks. It’s a new look, one Jongdae finds as intriguing as the others. “I was under the impression you already had it logged in that computer.”

“That’s work, this is…” _pleasure_, Jongdae almost says. “Not work,” he decides, shrugging to prove a feigned indifference.

Kyungsoo takes the phone and punches his number in swiftly before handing it back. “I better get going, but it was nice running into you, Jongdae.”

“Until next time.”

Kyungsoo smiles, and it’s different from the previous ones, this one lights up his whole face, his mouth forming into an interesting shape. “Until next time.”

And then he’s turned around and gone, and Jongdae moves forward. The smallest trace of a flutter in his stomach.

~

It only takes another day for Jongdae to send a message to Kyungsoo while he’s bored at the shop, Junmyeon out on an errand.

_do you follow the same sector of magic as your mother or grandmother?  
this is jongdae btw :3_

Jongdae could be doing something such as sweeping or overall tidying of the shop front, but he also hasn’t been able to stop thinking about Kyungsoo, the man who finally has a name.

There’s the small vibration of his phone on the wooden counter. 

_If I did would I really have to wear a suit?  
I work for an architecture firm._

Jongdae flushes with embarrassment. Yeah, that’s a good point. He debates on what to send as a follow up, but sees the three little dots that indicate he's typing back. He leaves his phone and waits.

_:p_

All it takes for the mood to dissipate is a well placed smiley face and Jongdae, though still embarrassed, moves on.

They chat about basic topics; Jongdae explains that his family's magic is rooted in weather and storm casting, Kyungsoo’s in divination and psychic abilities. Kyungsoo commends Jongdae for wanting to branch into a different field; Jongdae corrects him— working as a green witch is only temporary.

He watches the bubble of three dots appear and disappear for at least a minute, though it felt like longer, before a message is delivered. Jongdae is anticipating an essay, to be honest.

_I have to visit my grandmother this evening. Since I’ll be in the area do you want to meet for dinner?_

Not what Jongdae was expecting, but he's pleasantly surprised.

A few hours later Jongdae is sitting at his and Baekhyun’s favorite noodle place in their neighborhood with Kyungsoo looking at the menu across from him. He’s struck, as he usually is, by how handsome Kyungsoo is, and how much older he looks than the flat haired jean wearing boy he was first introduced to.

Jongdae does most of the talking while they wait for their food. He talks about Baekhyun, growing up where he was surrounded by the elements and not the buildings of the city they’re living in now.

“I used to live on a farm,” Kyungsoo interjects in-between bites. Jongdae waits for him to continue. “My mom’s family is from the city, but my father’s family runs a vegetable farm in the South. I grew up helping them with the harvest.”

Jongdae can see it, a younger version of this man in front of him that looks more like the man who first entered Junmyeon’s store working alongside his family. It’s a place he thinks would suit him, not suits and gelled hair.

“What made you decide to move to the city then?”

“The work, mostly,” Kyungsoo answers, dabs his mouth with his napkin before he continues. “I work as a consultant for architects and engineers. I use _feng shui_ to dictate where it’s best to build homes over land with good energy in correlation with the leys with the least amount of disruption.”

“That’s amazing,” Jongdae says, the awe trickling through his voice. “I didn’t know that was a thing?"

Kyungsoo shuffles in his seat, restless with the praise, but Jongdae can see the passion in the subject, eager to talk about his branch of magic. “It originated from China,” he explains. “It’s basically using the energy forces to harmonize people with their environment. So the way I learned and practice it is to orient buildings in such a way that the energy binds earth and humanity, using the leys as a reference. Some people use bodies of water or the stars as a reference, but with the ley line right here, it’s what works best for me.”

“That's awesome... A lot of that went over my head, but conceptually it's really interesting?” Jongdae admits. He grew up in such a bubble, that he doesn't even realize the different branches of magic that are surrounding him on a daily basis.

Kyungsoo gives a small smile. “I’m not very good at explaining it, but it’s a very interesting practice.”

“Fulfilling?”

Kyungsoo hums in agreement, the smallest smile as he goes for another bite of his food. “Yes. For me, this is the best thing I could be doing.”

Jongdae has a warmth emanate in his chest that comes with seeing how sure Kyungsoo is of his magic, of what he’s doing. Jongdae envies him, but also admires his assurance.

“Why did you say before when we were messaging that working as a green witch was only temporary? Your arrangements were much better than another place I had gone before, who claimed that area of magic was their expertise.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes at his past experiences, and Jongdae scratches at the top of his thigh through his jeans.

“If you liked my arrangements so much how come you wouldn’t let Junmyeon enchant them?”

Deflect.

“Because I prefer using my own spells with _feng shui_ to enhance their effectiveness. It’s about the cross of magic,” he shrugs his reply, and Jongdae internally notes to let Junmyeon know he was right; it is about the cross of magic. “How come only your boss enchants arrangements and plants?” he tilts his head to the side in patient question.

It seems that Kyungsoo is set on getting his answers, but Jongdae is surprised that, even through the nerves, he wants to explain. He tells himself that maybe explaining to someone with distance outside of the situation would understand.

“It’s not the magic I’m supposed to do.” Jongdae finally answers, takes a sip of water. “My family’s magic is rooted in weather,” he explains, picking away at his jeans underneath the table again, “a few things happened and I haven’t been able to do it for a while. But I know, overall, it's what I should be practicing.”

Kyungsoo purses his lips thought. “Sometimes the magic we’re born into isn’t the magic we’re meant to do.”

“You say that like it’s easy.” Jongdae means for it to come out as lighthearted, but he hears the petulance in his own voice and cringes.

“It’s not,” Kyungsoo puts down his spoon and chopsticks, his bowl nearly empty, his expression serious. “Like I mentioned, my mothers whole family is full of psychics, and I'm clearly... not that. But having a stubborn mindset on what you believe you can do versus what you should do, that’s important to distinguish.”

Jongdae swirls his glass of water, staring at the condensation on the outside. He remembers Junmyeon saying something similar not too long ago. Kyungsoo has stopped talking and Jongdae can feel the heat of his gaze; feels his stare as it sees more and more of who Jongdae is.

“I can be really stubborn. When I met Gihyeon, my familiar, he refused to work with me until I gave up the idea that I had to follow my family’s magic. Now I just accept he’s clearly as stubborn as I am.”

Things go a little white and fuzzy near the end but Jongdae is _mostly_ sure he heard correctly. “You had trouble bonding with your familiar?”

Kyungsoo nods, like it isn’t a big deal. “For a few weeks, after we found each other. There was a disconnect?” Kyungsoo tilts his head again, like he’s searching for the right words. “Being a psychic like my mother, it wasn't expected that I would take over or work with her, but it's what I sort of expected from myself. It's just not what Gihyeon wanted.”

Jongdae feels an eerie sense of comfort in Kyungsoo's statement. Like suddenly he understands something integral about Kyungsoo. About himself.

“What did Gihyeon want?”

“To stay low to the ground. _Testudines_ are animals that are familiar with the secrets of the earth and the flow of energy from the earth is always with them. Once I learned that my hobby of tilling the soil and moving boulders with magic was something Gihyeon wanted to do too— well, suddenly it turned into my answer for what I could do for myself. So that's what I did. I became a geomancer.”

Jongdae feels the earth move from underneath again, and has to hold a hand up for Kyungsoo to pause. A geomancer that had trouble bonding with his familiar… that's too much of a coincidence. 

“Did Zhang Yixing give you advice with your familiar bond?” Jongdae asks in semi-disbelief.

Kyungsoo’s large eyes widen in shock, and he nods. “Of course you know Yixing though, he’s the one who recommended that I visit your nursery.”

Jongdae blows out a raspberry, and he can’t help but chuckle. “I knew the witch community was tight-knit, but I didn’t realize how tight the one in this city is until now. Our circles are literally entwined, now.” He wants to feel more surprised, but honestly, he isn’t. Jongdae leans back in his chair, his leg accidentally bumping into Kyungsoo’s. He retracts his leg and sits up straight.

It’s a little overwhelming, how frequently their lives are intersecting, and in such interesting ways. And on top of all the coincidences, Kyungsoo is speaking on something so unintentionally relevant to Jongdae’s internalized roadblock, to stay in green magic or return to storm casting. That Kyungsoo knew and realized to do what was right for him and Gihyeon, it's an added weight to everything Kyungsoo has to say, and the substance weighs heavily on Jongdae.

“I think it’s fitting that we hadn’t crossed paths until now,” Kyungsoo says, picking up his bowl and bringing it to his mouth, “and now that we’ve met we can’t seem to stop meeting until we fulfill whatever the ley line is pushing us towards.” He tilts the bowl so all of the broth can be drunk.

Jongdae watched the apple of his throat bob up and down as he drinks and swallows. It’s only with the sound of the bowl being placed back on the table that has Jongdae looking away and making eye contact again.

“Said like a true psychic,” Jongdae teases, and Kyungsoo kicks his him lightly in the shin. Jongdae backs down and angles the conversation back to where it was before they got caught up in the absurdity of their lives tangling together as they have. Kyungsoo gazing at him. “You know a lot about your familiar, like the scientific stuff.”

Jongdae feels trapped in that gaze; serious but never condescending. 

“I like to have every piece of information before I decide what to do,” Kyungsoo says. “It’s kind of how I realized I wouldn’t be a good psychic after all. I like logic. If I wanted to know more about Gihyeon I figured I should start at the root of it; the science of it and not the magic.”

“So after learning more about what kind of animal Gihyeon was that’s how you started working as a consultant and working with _feng shui_? Was this after Yixing stepped in?” Jongdae tries to hide the desperation that overpowers the polite curiousness of his own voice.

“More or less,” Kyungsoo says casually.

“Where did you learn about tortoises wanting to be close to the ground and the energy?” Jongdae doesn’t mean to seem like he’s scraping for answers that may or may not be invasive, but there’s a hope that continues to lurk inside of him. Hope that swirls with admiration, and Jongdae doesn’t know how to deal with that. Where are feelings like that supposed to go?

“He lent me a book on uncommon familiars. I wanted talk to Gihyeon but if I didn’t know who he was then how was I supposed to know how to communicate?”

It makes sense. Enough at least, that Jongdae feels like a fool for not learning more past what Kumo needs besides housing and common pet care. That’s the difference though, Kumo isn’t a pet, she’s his familiar; his partner.

“I can’t communicate with Kumo,” Jongdae admits, less because he feels like he should and more because he has to. Jongdae can see the minuscule ways Kyungsoo’s face changes as he processes the information.

“That kind of makes sense,” he says quietly. “Not that I expected it, but your questions make more sense. And that you guessed Yixing helped me with my bond. Can I ask another question?”

Jongdae nods in quick agreement.

“How long? I mean, I think we’re similar in age but that’s also a long time to not be communicating with your familiar.”

“A few weeks,” Jongdae answers, and decides if he’s going to be honest he should really go through on it. “I had a familiar before Kumo but…” _they died._

“A few things happened,” Kyungsoo answers for Jongdae, using Jongdae’s own words from before, who nods and recalls of winds and rains too intense to mitigate.

Dinner finishes and they make their way back outside, the sun set and the lights illuminating the street. Jongdae has a new sense of inspiration and energy, maybe a new avenue of thought will help bridge the connection. Knowing Kyungsoo went through something similar is comforting. 

Kyungsoo disappears into the underground station and Jongdae's reminded of the book Yixing let him borrow and how he still hasn't even opened it. He wonders if it’s the same one he lent to Kyungsoo. Jongdae would put a bet on it, with all of the odds so clearly stacked on his side.

He walks the rest of the way back to his apartment where Baekhyun will be waiting with a mug of tea and a smug smile that says more than Jongdae wants to acknowledge.

He may not have the clairvoyance of Kyungsoo’s mother, or even of Junmyeon, but even some witches get a hunch every now and then. So when Baekhyun is sitting on their couch with his legs folded, arms wrapped and holding them to his chest, two mugs of tea on the table, and Noodle sniffing from one of them he pats himself on the back.

Of course he’s right.

“He knows that’s way too hot to drink, right?” Jongdae nods his head at the tabby cat. Baekhyun glances his eyes in the direction of Noodle and dismisses the action with a wave of his hand.

“He should but it’s not my fault if he doesn’t learn from his mistakes.” But Baekhyun adjusts himself and grabs the tea Noodle was interested in and holds it with both hands. He licks his lips, nibbled on the bottom one which is a habit he usually saves for when he’s nervous. “How was dinner?”

“Fine?” Jongdae doesn’t mean for it to come out as a question and unsure, but Baekhyun is spewing energy in waves, and Jongdae is, frankly, confused and concerned. He isn’t sure if it’s excited or anxious energy. “Are you okay?”

Baekhyun looks surprised by the question and takes a gulp of tea, hissing as it undoubtedly burns his mouth and throat. “Aah!” he inhales breath after breath to get the coolest air possible to alleviate the burn.

Jongdae rolls his eyes and doesn’t offer to get Baekhyun anything to help. “You do that all the time, _'he should know it’s too hot but it’s not my fault if he doesn’t learn from his mistakes’_” Jongdae mocks, a poor replica of Baekhyun’s voice and repeating his words from only a moment ago, as Baekhyun continues to hiss through his teeth. “Why can’t you wait?”

“Because by then it’s always _cold_, and that’s just nasty.” He wrinkles his nose in aversion at the thought. “Anyway, just fine?”

“It was good,” Jongdae admits. It shouldn’t feel like a confession, telling Baekhyun that he enjoyed having dinner with a… friend? Could he consider them friends yet? Do a few run-ins, a couple texts, and dinner where they revealed questionably private things that would probably only be known to friends constitute as friends? He hopes so, it seems like a good step.

Baekhyun’s smile is wistful, knowing. There’s something else there though, that Jongdae can’t see, can’t grasp. “Okay,” and he drops it in favor of chatting about their days.

Winding down with Baekhyun is just part of his daily routine. Noodle leaps onto the couch and into Jongdae’s lap. Baekhyun chides the action, crosses his arms. He looks so put out, Jongdae can’t help but laugh.

“You jealous?” Jongdae gives Noodle a scratch under his chin, makes a smug face in Baekhyun’s general direction. “Noodle loves me~” he teases, and Baekhyun just huffs in his own corner of the couch.

“I’m gonna have to have a talk with him about that,” Baekhyun sounds serious, like he’s genuinely going to lecture Noodle for sitting with Jongdae over his bonded witch. Jongdae scoops Noodle into his arms and passes him over to Baekhyun, who takes him eagerly.

“I need do my own thing with Kumo,” Jongdae excuses himself. It’s not a lie, necessarily, but he knows Baekhyun is sensitive about how Noodle will frequently latch onto Jongdae. He’s just a social cat with a penchant for Jongdae.

In his room Kumo is hiding in the top corner of her terrarium, in her webbings. “Hello,” Jongdae lightly singsongs in greeting. “I hope you had a good and quiet day.”

He sheds his clothes, decompresses in the heat and steam that engulfs the bathroom while he showers. He prepares himself for another night of meditating and hoping that Kumo is ready to bridge whatever gap has been left open.

~

Jongdae is visiting his childhood home. There’s a low pressure system that had been predicted to move in. It’s been so dry for the past few weeks, some rain wouldn’t be bad.

Everything looks the same, if not slightly off. He hadn’t realized it’d been so long since he’s been home. It seems quiet, with no one around, as if everyone’s gone into hiding and there’s only Jongdae left. The sky is dark, and thunderheads roll in, ready for a storm.

With that realization there’s a gust of wind that plasters his shirt against his back, hair snapping around his face. A crack of lightning hits the old and looming camphor tree, a bang of thunder that follows. The tree is split, scorched and dead.

Suddenly Jongdae is swarmed by a surge of water. A wave towering in front of him curling before it crashes. He braces for an impact that never comes. Instead he finds himself underwater, and without a moment for doubt, takes in a lungful of water, able to breathe. There’s something uneasy that settles in his stomach, but can’t be placed, until out of the corner of his eye in his peripheral he sees a familiar shape, the shadow of someone no longer here, and his blood runs cold.

He turns to follow them, but when he does there’s a force that grabs him by the collar and hoists him through the depths of the water.

With a shake and a gasp for breath Jongdae is back in his apartment sprawled on the floor at the foot of the couch with Baekhyun hovering above him— a hand clutching onto his shoulder and a deep look for concern on his face masking the panic in his voice.

“What the fuck, Jongdae.”

It was a dream… a nightmare? Jongdae prods Baekhyun’s hand off his shoulder and sits up. On the table amongst the books and old half empty glasses of water is Kumo, in a rare moment at the bottom of her enclosure instead of hidden in her web cocoon, her front legs pressed against the glass, as if begging to be let out.

“I was meditating and I—” Jongdae rolls his shoulders, stiff from whatever position had him on the floor. “I must’ve fallen asleep.”

“You were _whimpering_ on the floor.” Baekhyun places the back of his hand to his forehead, “You’re really warm, too. Are you getting sick?” Jongdae shakes his head in refusal. There’s a crease between Baekhyun’s eyebrows and he sits back up and heads toward their kitchen, turning on the electric kettle.

“I’m making tea,” he explains.

“Tea isn’t the cure for everything, Baekhyun.”

There’s the opening and closing of cabinet doors as Baekhyun grabs two mugs and two bags of Jongdae’s favorite floral tea from Kyungsoo's grandmothers shop.

“I’m not trying to cure anything, I’m trying to calm whatever is going on in your head that's causing you to have tremors on our floor.”

Noodle, who has been perched on the arm of their sofa, tail twitching behind him, has gracefully leapt from his spot to follow Baekhyun.

There’s a compelling force that leads Jongdae to open the bottom of Kumo’s enclosure, letting her scuttle onto his open palm. _Avicularia_ are known for moving fast, and that’s exactly how Kumo moves, when she allows Jongdae to handle her. He really is trying, and he hopes that Kumo sees that, even if it feels like it’s with no discernible progress.

Baekhyun returns, two steaming mugs of tea, Noodle lazily following and dropping under the table to lay haphazardly. Jongdae accepts his mug, grabbing the handle with his free hand that isn’t cradling Kumo and brings it to his lips.

“So,” Baekhyun sits crossed legged on the floor with Jongdae and gives him a knowing look. “Wanna talk about what’s gotten you so clouded lately?”

With Kumo in one had and tea in the other Jongdae can’t fiddle with his fingers. He takes a gulp of tea, scalding the inside of his mouth, doing the same damn thing he made fun of Baekhyun for the other night.

Jongdae isn’t _bad_ at communicating. He’s always able to set boundaries and be as honest as he can. But right now he doesn’t want to be honest, he wants his dream to be his and his alone, but he feels the words seeping to the surface, beyond his control.

“When I met with Yixing the other week, I told you about how he can see auras? He told me my aura is a muddy brown and doesn’t match Kumo’s. So I have—” he places his mug on the table, lets Kumo walk across his palms, moving his hands consistently to keep her moving and keep him focused. It’s like putting one foot in front of the other, it keeps him occupied while simultaneously creating enough distraction that he can say what is bursting to get out. “I have a block in my magic and energy, like a clogged sink, and he thinks that's why we can’t connect.”

There’s a pause before Baekhyun clears his throat. “Do you think it has something to do with what happened with Cheol?”

“Yixing also said that the way my aura presents itself is an abnormal form and it spirals around like a typhoon.” Jongdae explains, an indirect fact that confirms Baekhyun’s question. Kumo slows down her pacing, which means Jongdae isn’t bridging his hands back and forth for her as frantically. Baekhyun gives the smallest of gasps and clicks his tongue.

“So we unblock it,” Baekhyun sounds so optimistic. Like it’s that easy.

“I’ve been _trying_,” Jongdae pleads, and Kumo stops moving across his palms, static. “Didn’t I already deal with this?”

Noodle moves from their position laying down, stretches back arched before moving to rub his head against Jongdae’s knee. He watches from his periphery Baekhyun nibble on his lower lip, then chew on the side of his thumb where nail meets flesh.

“I don’t know if you ever really did deal with it.” It’s unavoidable, even though he tries he can’t hold the croak in his throat at Baekhyun’s words. The poorly healed fissure in his chest splitting open. Maybe it never healed properly at all. “You sort of just… shoved it away and said it was fine.”

He doesn’t want to talk about this, never wanted to directly talk about it, but there’s something that compels him to keep going. A hook on a line that reels it out of him.

“Everyone said it wasn’t my fault. What was I supposed to do when no one would let me be upset—” he clamps his mouth shut. He doesn’t want to talk about this, he shouldn’t have to if he doesn’t want to, that’s the thing about human will.

He stews in his emotions and uses his brain which leaves him in belated horror. A sickening realization dawns on him and he glares at Baekhyun, who’s mouth immediately drops open and his expression collapses; there’s a slab of guilt written plainly on his face. “Did you put a compulsion spell in my tea?”

“You— you’ve been so out of it lately,” Baekhyun splutters in defense.

But the damage is done and there’s anger, anger that bubbles thick inside of Jongdae that he can’t deal with right now. He puts Kumo back, who doesn’t want to go in and he has to gently push her in so he can close the lock at the bottom.

“Our biggest rule, Baekhyun. No magic on each other,” Jongdae doesn't want to be mad, he tells himself Baekhyun was just trying to help by doing what he does best: mending a broken heart. But still, “Not unknowingly, no matter the intent.”

He leaves Baekhyun, choking out sounds on the floor in his wake, to take Kumo back to his room. He doesn’t falter in grabbing the closest jacket he can before heading to the door, grabbing his keys and slipping his shoes on. “I’m going for a walk.”

“Jongdae, wait!” Baekhyun calls out to him, and there’s a desperation Jongdae can hear in his voice, a mewl from Noodle follows, and he closes the door behind without hesitation. He goes down the stairs of their building and outside into the brisk and cold spring air.

It’s dusk. A part of Jongdae expects Baekhyun to impulsively rush after him and Jongdae selfishly wishes he would so he could air out any grievances while he still had a bit of Baekhyun’s magic in him. The logic in him prays that he doesn’t, and maybe Baekhyun knows that and doesn’t want to make things worse.

He won’t be long, he just wants to be alone until whatever Baekhyun added to his tea is expunged from his body and he’s not feeling as hot. But that also gives him time to reflect on what was so clearly a nightmare that Baekhyun woke him from in the first place.

His steps lead him to a small park near the subway entrance Jongdae almost always walks past, forgetting that it even exists. He sits on an empty bench, and with his elbows braced on his knees he cradles his own head and thinks. Thinks about lightening and storms and floods and shadows that he thought stopped haunting him.

“Jongdae?” a timid voice calls to him.

He cranes his head up quickly, and the world spins for a moment before he can focus on the figure before him, the one who called his name. It sounded familiar but he didn’t think it was Baekhyun.

It’s Kyungsoo.

He stares up at him, speechless and unable to acknowledge him. This is the softer Kyungsoo, the one who reminds Jongdae of the boy who would have grown up in the country on a farm, with soft undone hair and expressive eyes. After a moment Kyungsoo diffidently continues.

“I was helping halmeoni arrange some things,” he explains, probably to break the quiet. “Is everything okay?” He stands before Jongdae, holding onto a to-go cup, and even in the darkness of the evening he can still see the steam pluming from the drink with the help of the street lights.

“Yes?” Jongdae questions. He lets out a huge exhale as he sits up, buries his face back into his hands. He rubs his eyes hard, harder, until he sees stars. “Maybe? I don’t know.”

Jongdae hears Kyungsoo move, step closer and there’s a body, a leg, pressed against his own. A touch that centers him into the present and not swirling in his own brain, stuck on that look of genuine guilt and shame that was plastered on Baekhyun's face. Jongdae typically knows how to ground himself, and Kyungsoo just lets him do what he needs to do without pressure, without questions. He just sits and waits, and provides the reminder that there is someone there if he needs it.

It's overwhelming in its own way, but right now, in this moment, Jongdae appreciates the presence.

There's agony mixed with anger, with a side of sadness desperate to claw its way to the front, but Jongdae squashes it down just one more time. They sit in what visually looks like companionable silence, but on the inside Jongdae is simply lost on what he should say.

He draws in a breath to speak, and nothing comes out. He isn't sure what he should say when he doesn't want to say anything at all. Kyungsoo takes a sip of his drink, Jongdae risks a glance and the lighting from the street lamp above is harsh and creates shadows on Kyungsoo's face and Jongdae is struck in the gut by the way Kyungsoo looks in this moment.

He forces himself to look away.

"I'm sorry," he whispers into the night.

"Don't be," comes Kyungsoo's equally soft reply. "It's okay." And they sit in more silence.

Time moves fast, and what was a setting sun has completely gone to sleep. It's dark, and Jongdae is cold, even with his jacket. He isn't sure how much time has passed but in the midst of doing anything except think about his nightmare, about Baekhyun, he is constantly aware of Kyungsoo besides him. Barely past the stage of friend.

He lets out a deep breath and sniffs his runny nose. "I need to... go home."

Jongdae can feel Kyungsoo's gaze on him, feels grounded enough to look back. "Do you want company?"

Jongdae searches, but he can't see anything other than sincerity in Kyungsoo's face. Heat blooms in his stomach, his chest, on his face. It's too soon, too soon to feel like this.

"You don't have to," Jongdae stands up suddenly, and adjusts his bearings. His legs feel stiff, and he wonders how long he was actually sitting there with Kyungsoo in silence, with nothing but the sound of his own thoughts and the cityscape.

"And if I wanted to?" his head cocked to the side, a small closed lip smile on his face, like he knows he's already won.

"I won't stop you." Jongdae admits. Kyungsoo throws his now empty cup into the public bin and they walk in silence, the park really is one Jongdae never remembers, and it's less than five minutes until they're back at the apartment building.

Jongdae comes to a halt, and Kyungsoo follows. "This is me," he says, and lets out a cough. "About everything," he hesitates; _not speaking, essentially ignoring you, wasting your evening_, none of these things are said, and Kyungsoo grabs him by the elbow and turns him so they're face to face. His face is lined in seriousness.

"Don't, it really is okay. I hope whatever it is gets better," he says. "I'm not very gifted in seeing the future like my mother, but I know whatever is happening will pass. And you can always reach out if you need someone.”

Jongdae swallows the lump in his throat and nods. "Kyungsoo... thanks," and he can't really stop himself, he's so tactile and on the bench the press of his leg was enough, he pulls Kyungsoo in and wraps himself around him with a hug, trapping his arms so all Kyungsoo can do is gently reciprocate with a small grip around his waist.

Jongdae lets go, feels the heat on his cheeks and smiles the best smile he can at Kyungsoo, who doesn’t acknowledge if it seems strained. “I should go in, but I’ll talk to you soon. Bye.”

Jongdae hears the trails of Kyungsoo's own, "Goodbye," as he enters the building. Heat from the building immediately engulfs Jongdae as he steps through. He chances a glance behind him to see Kyungsoo still standing there, so Jongdae waves once more, and Kyungsoo lets out another one of his small smiles that feels like its own gift and waves goodbye.

He was only gone an hour but when he unlocks their front door and enters to see that Baekhyun has cleaned the entire kitchen, the two mugs from before washed and in the rack. His eyes are a little puffy, lips red and swollen from chewing on them.

Jongdae’s… fine. His anger has receded and all that’s really left is a shallow dried up pool of concern for his friend who seems to be taking the repercussions of his own decisions heavily. _As he should_ the nagging little voice in his petty brain says.

Before Jongdae can finish removing his shoes and formulate a way to break the silence Baekhyun is already speaking. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. Noodle freaking told me not to but I did it anyway.”

Jongdae frowns, remembering that he just locked up Kumo just like his feelings and left when… well now that he reflects it was clear Kumo was probably distressed from the moment Jongdae was woken up.

“I’m really sorry,” Baekhyun sniffles out. “It was misplaced concern. I’ve been worried, more than usual recently,” he adds, “and Jongdae— it was really scary seeing you on the ground like that.”

It’s so easy for big and loud Baekhyun to look so small when he's upset.

“I know,” Jongdae, for all his anger and frustration at Baekhyun, had time to reflect on what he dreamt and Baekhyun slipping some magic in his tea. “I think I was having a nightmare about what… happened,” Still won’t really say it, though. “I’m not hiding things on purpose or repressing my feelings, Baekhyun. I’m working on things and we work on these things differently.”

There’s an argument to be made, that Jongdae isn't working on his remaining grief, on his guilt and shame, and Jongdae sees that argument wanting to be voiced through Baekhyun’s eyes. He holds up a hand prematurely to stop whatever thoughts Baekhyun may have been about to voice.

“I left abruptly when we should’ve talked so I’m sorry, too, but I also need to be alone for a little bit longer.” He shrugs his jacket off and finally hangs his keys on the hook at the door. “I sort of abandoned Kumo and I probably shouldn’t have.”

Baekhyun nods, like he'll do anything Jongdae asks of him, and lets him retire to his room, a sort of truce established. Another temporary white flag.

Jongdae goes to his room, directly to his desk where Kumo is hidden in their web nest.

_I’m sorry_ Jongdae projects, through energy and thought. He has a guttural feeling that Kumo understands Jongdae much better and thoroughly than Jongdae could ever begin to understand and pull from Kumo. “I’m sorry,” he says aloud, just in case.

He apologizes for being unable to breach the block and for not recognizing that Kumo was probably just as worked up as Jongdae when he woke up. He’s reminded of what Yixing said, that witches needed to learn to block their connections so that their familiars didn’t experiences the effects of overran illnesses or symptoms. It solidifies Jongdae's hypothesis, that there’s a oneway path that’s open between them. He realizes he disregarded their connection in the flurry of emotions and left her alone despite that.

He lights one of his mothers candles and opens the bottom of the enclosure and gives Kumo the choice of joining him in meditating on everything that happened.

_Maybe it’s finally time,_ Jongdae thinks, _to actually deal with this._

~

The days pass, and Jongdae takes primary care over some of the newer plants that are beginning to grow, though always keeping his eye on the queen of the night, growing more, potentially days away from the first of the flowers to bloom, and the fly trap.

“It reminds me of you. Small and constantly needing attention,” Jongdae teases Junmyeon one afternoon, who looks put out until Gully is croaking in tandem and Junmyeon blushes and Jongdae realizes Gully was _laughing_. “Good bird.”

Junmyeon is a vault of information. Cataloging all of the different needs for sunlight, watering, soil types, and even if they should be housed in clay pots or plastic. But Jongdae finds satisfaction in learning and channeling his frustrations into supplementing the leafy plants that house so much energy and life.

Junmyeon's in what he calls his ‘office’ but what Jongdae refers to as ‘a fire hazard’ with all of his papers strewn about the desk in a way that makes no sense to Jongdae, but that Junmyeon is able to navigate with relative ease.

Jongdae, in a moment of brilliancy, remembered the book Yixing had let him borrow, and brought it with him today. He glances through the index to remind himself which section stood out most to him.

(Last night as he was skimming the pages, noting the few diagrams and illustrations that depicted animals and familiars, Baekhyun walked from his room to Jongdae sprawled on the couch. He halted and stared, and Jongdae stared back.

“What are you doing?” Baekhyun had asked, like Jongdae was the one who stopped Baekhyun mid-step to stare incredulously at him.

“Reading?” Jongdae said, question inflected.

“Huh,” Baekhyun said in semi-disbelief and eyebrows slightly raised, “I didn’t know you could read.”

Jongdae clucked his tongue, rolled his eyes, and threw a pillow from the couch at Baekhyun for being an idiot and Baekhyun scurried away, giggling at his own juvenile joke.)

There’s other things Jongdae could, and probably should, be doing; cleaning the store, double checking on pick-up’s, checking store-front inventory— instead he reads at the counter. Many passages stick out to Jongdae, but one in particular sort of jumps at him in all its pertinent information:

_Once the witch responds to their familiar, they work together on making an adjustment to the witchcraft. The witch can also learn from their familiar, and by studying their creature they are able to learn and adopt some traits which will be beneficial to them._

What traits, what kind of craft was Kumo interested in that Jongdae completely blocked? Jongdae can’t help but feel the guilt at his own realization that he hasn’t learned as much about Kumo as he should have. He recalls Kyungsoo’s explanation that Gihyeon refused to work with Kyungsoo until he realized that geomancy was what worked best for both of them.

Jongdae hadn’t wanted to admit it for the longest time, but nonetheless the truth keeps making itself present; weather magic just isn’t for Kumo, and maybe it isn’t for Jongdae either. It’s a slow creep of realization, the opposite from a shock of cold water, more a creeping chill of actualization; that maybe he’s known this was the truth all along. And he doesn’t think he could verbalize it, not right now, that there’s also another part of him that’s relieved that weather magic isn’t what he should be doing anymore.

~

It's only days later when Jongdae invites Yixing and Kyungsoo to meet for an after-work coffee. They’re at a chain and Jongdae wraps his hands around the warmth of his drink. Spring is taking its time this year, and the nights are still cold.

They all decided to meet after Jongdae had skimmed through the book he borrowed from Yixing, and after sending a photo of the cover to Kyungsoo, he had received a message back:

_haha it really is the same one i borrowed._

Now with Kyungsoo and Yixing sitting across from him, he expresses how much he thinks he learned from the book; not only about arachnids as familiars but other familiar types as well. He’s acknowledged the type of magic he _shouldn’t_ do, but Jongdae can’t help but be hung-up on another thing: communication.

“Do you think familiars, or Kumo, think like us?” he asks. The place is bustling with the afterwork rush hour of people looking for a caffeine fix before their next thing. It’s loud enough that Jongdae has to speak up to be heard, but busy enough that he isn’t concerned over who is or isn’t eavesdropping. Not that it’s confidential, but it’s… private. Not for everyone else, just him and his friends.

“No.” Yixing’s answer is firm and resolute. Factual, not up for interpretation.

“You have to abandon the idea that Kumo thinks and communicates like a human,” Kyungsoo adds. “Many familiars don’t think like humans. They don’t— it’s— just not at all. They don’t think like humans and they don’t talk like humans.” Kyungsoo imploringly looks to Yixing, who confirms with a small nod.

“Do they have language?” Jongdae asks, exasperatedly. He feels slightly uncomfortable, sitting across from both of them. He’d gotten to know them separately, and now sitting across from them knowing they’ve know each other longer than he’s known them combined… it makes him feel like the odd man out.

“Yes— well. Not in the way that we’re… talking, no,” Yixing begins to explain. “Do animals sometimes frame things in a very specific way; absolutely yes. Do different animals have different personalities and say things in really different ways; yes. Is it that they’ve studied the dictionary and this is the most effective word; no.” It makes sense, in an abstract way, what Yixing is trying to explain.

“So how does Jango communicate with you? How does that sound in your head?”

“So, with me it’s pictures. She’ll communicate ideas that are whole pictures in my mind.” 

Kyungsoo nods along, “It's the same for me.”

“A way I can best describe this is— what’s one of your favorite songs? Don't say it just... think on it.”

Jongdae does, and he ruminates on the sound, the tone, the lyrics. Just for a moment, and Yixing continues.

“When I asked you that question you had in your mind the sound, maybe specific lyrics, you had pictures maybe from the music video.” And he's right, Jongdae did have those thoughts. "Maybe you had a feeling from the last time you heard it, or the first time you heard it. That’s what I’m talking about. It's like getting the whole message in a single image, like communicating through pictures. It’s not as easy as saying ‘This is a snapshot of me holding my snake.’ it’s like—,” Yixing is much more animated than when they sat and talked in his clinic, frenzied and lost for words. “It’s more nuanced and it takes interpretation and sometimes it’s just being hammered over the head with a message. It depends. You get better at it the longer you get to know each other. Images begin to mean certain things that could only mean something between you and Kumo."

Kyungsoo and Yixing look at Jongdae who feels like he's being backed into a corner by the both of them expressing their barely capped enthusiasm over their shared way of communicating with their familiars.

"I'll try," Jongdae tells them, and they're happy to leave it at that. They continue the rest of their drinks with jokes and stories, and Jongdae thinks it's interesting, eating this meal with these two other people he's grown to know in such interesting ways. Maybe it was asking too much from Kumo, to communicate how Baekhyun and Noodle do, like a telepathic connection. Like how he so vividly remembers being able to talk to Cheol.

~

Jongdae is humming a lilting tune while he waters big, leafy plants in the nursery. More for the plants than for himself. The queen of the night is really beginning to flourish, twining its way through the trellis. The sky is clear, the moon bright. Tomorrow the first of the flowers might bloom, and Jongdae wants to be able to see it.

When he’s on his way home he sends a message to Kyungsoo.

_what are you up to tomorrow night?_

He only needs to wait a few minutes, the notification coming through while he’s browsing his twitter feed on the bus.

_Nothing._

_meet me at the nursery tomorrow after work?_

_Why? 👀_

Jongdae gets off at his bus stop, thanking the driver and re-adjusting his bag as he finishes his walk back to his apartment.

_i want to show you something :)_

Jongdae thinks Kyungsoo would appreciate the queen of the night blooming. Doesn’t have any other reason besides wanting to share it with him.

_okay :)_ Kyungsoo responds, and it's nice that he trusts Jongdae.

He enters the warmth of the apartment, empty besides the familiars. He goes to his room to find Noodle sitting on his desk next to Kumo’s terrarium. He meows in greeting and waits for Jongdae to come over and check on them both, scratch behind his ear and purr. 

The next day flies by quickly. Jongdae tells Junmyeon he’s staying late to see if the queen of the night blooms and Junmyeon asks if he invited Kyungsoo.

Jongdae doesn’t want to admit that he had, but he gives in. “I did… and?”

Junmyeon just shrugs, a smug little smile on his face. “I was just going to suggest you do it anyway. You keep texting him throughout the day,” Jongdae splutters at the casualness of Junmyeon calling him out, “which is fine, you still do your work and don’t do it in front of customers but please, Jongdae. Of course I know.”

The day that was passing by quickly suddenly halts in Jongdae’s mild mortification. Junmyeon can’t leave fast enough. Suddenly he’s by himself, waiting for Kyungsoo to arrive.

There’s a knock on the front window of the shop, and outside is Kyungsoo dressed in his clean work clothes, hair styled up and back, glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. Jongdae unlocks the door and lets him in, locking it back up once he’s inside.

“Where are we going?” he asks, cheeks and nose pink from the chill outside. The sun is still up, orange and dusty light in the sky, and Jongdae notices Kyungsoo doesn’t have a jacket to keep warm. 

“We’re staying, actually.” Jongdae leads him to the back, into the nursery. Despite all of Kyungsoo’s trips and visits recently he’s never been invited to the back, and Jongdae suddenly feels bad for inviting him while Kyungsoo is wearing a suit that probably costs more than one of his own paychecks. “I didn’t think when I invited you that you would want to… not be wearing a suit,” Jongdae confesses, embarrassed. Kyungsoo simply shrugs his shoulders, like it can't be helped, keeps his hands to himself and looks around in amazement.

“It looks like a jungle back here,” he whispers in awe, and he’s kind of right, Jongdae supposes. It’s filled with leafy plants, flowers, a few trees that are too small to sell just yet, and it smells a combination of different floral scents and an abundance of dirt and earth.

“I love working back here,” Jongdae comments. It slips out, but it’s true.

“So what are we doing?” Kyungsoo asks. He removes his suit jacket and drapes it carefully over the chair at the table where Junmyeon and Jongdae make their arrangements. The thin fabric of Kyungsoo’s dress shirt clings to his chest and arms and Jongdae looks away, he has to. If he keeps looking he doesn't know what sordid thoughts will leak through when that isn't his intention.

So, instead Jongdae walks to the large bay window where the queen of the night sits in her large pot, climbing through the trellis, and he listens as Kyungsoo follows behind. “This is _epiphyllum oxypetalum,_ Queen of the Night. It’s actually a cactus,” Jongdae explains, running a finger across one of its leaves. They’re more like modified stems, sturdy, but flat with slightly rounded edges, making it look like a leaf.

“They’re usually pretty easy to grow, but this one struggled a bit. I repotted it and I’ve been taking care of it since. They only bloom at night, large white flowers. They’re supposed to smell really nice as well… I’ve been waiting, and I think it’s going to bloom once it gets dark out,” Jongdae explains. He sees one of the buds, it’s bursting, ready. The skies are supposed to be clear, and the moon is only a few days from being full.

“How do you take care of a sick plant?” Kyungsoo asks, and he hovers next to Jongdae who can swear he can feel his body heat. Jongdae flushes, stammers while he puts a little distance between them.

“Figuring out why they're sick is usually how to figure out what to do. This one wasn't housed in the right environment: the air was too dry, and these like a humid climate. When I repotted it I tried doing some magic, but that was before I got Kumo. But I... have a few ways. That whole, uhm— study about talking to your plants is true. But sometimes I sing. I don’t know about that but, Junmyeon says it helps so…” Jongdae runs a nervous hand through his hair before remembering he hadn’t been able to wash his hands recently and they’re certainly still covered in dirt.

Kyungsoo hums in acknowledgement, and then hums a low tune Jongdae can’t pinpoint exactly. Magic radiates in small waves from the cactus, receptive to Kyungsoo.

Jongdae has his eyes stuck on his face, his throat, the way he mimics Jongdae’s movements and gently caresses a leaf and then a bud waiting to bloom.

Jongdae doesn't know if it's all the deep breathing and meditating he's been doing lately, but he feels centered when he's around Kyungsoo. He's genuinely becoming the best parts of Jongdae's days; the increasingly frequent instances of them running into each other and transitioning into becoming actual friends who talk about their familiars, families, and meeting for dinners.

Kyungsoo looks over to find Jongdae already staring back. His big eyes are wider still, lips soft and slightly parted, like he was just caught in the act of something when Jongdae is the one who feels seen to his core. Jongdae just wants to bridge the gap and kiss him in the place he feels safest.

But he can’t do that, obviously, and there’s an expectant silence that stretches between them, and Jongdae isn’t sure how or who is supposed to fill it, so he clears his throat and asks, “Do you want to go and grab food at the 7-11?” and the tension in the air breaks, like a bubble that grew and grew until it was popped.

There’s a quiet pause, the energy in the nursery electric, and then Kyungsoo nods and says, quietly, “That sounds good.”

The atmosphere is different, and Jongdae isn’t sure what happened and how it changed or how to fix it. It isn’t _bad_ but not knowing the reason leaves Jongdae feeling tense. But they eat quickly and their conversation is the same as it usually is. When they get back to the shop and move their way to the nursery it’s dark out, the glow of the moon shining and bright, and Jongdae’s nerves are boiling. The grounded, centered feeling he usually has with Kyungsoo is displaced. Everything feels wrong.

The queen of the night is the same as it was when they left, and Jongdae is disappointed. If it was going to bloom it would have started by now. He feels like he wasted Kyungsoo's evening. His sigh is loud and audible; embarrassed and frustrated. “Maybe my magic is shit after all,” Jongdae says, meaning for it to sound joking, but the bitterness is evident and he’s unable to hide it.

But Kyungsoo is quick to disagree, “That’s not true, Jongdae. It’s just not ready,” he places a hand on his bicep, a touch that should be comforting but Jongdae is too tense. He shrugs out of the contact and takes a step back from Kyungsoo.

“I'm out of touch with magic. I'm just not _good_ at it anymore,” Jongdae says, though it feels more like a fearful confession.

“You _are_ good at magic,” Kyungsoo urges, “you know so much and help maintain the best plants and flowers in the area. And that is with an unfinished bond and a block in your aura.”

Kyungsoo is a rock, grounding and stable, and somehow knows not to ask _why_ he has a block in his aura, but suddenly Jongdae needs to say it, because Kyungsoo might be able to understand. “I don't _deserve_ to be good at magic. The reason I didn’t have a familiar for years is because my other one died, and it was because of me,” Jongdae hisses, and it hurts as it always does and always has. 

Kyungsoo has his brows furrowed, a stern and concerned expression that Jongdae can't focus on or he'll lose his nerve.

“He was a dog, a jindo.” Jongdae explains, and he lets himself remember Cheol so he can explain to Kyungsoo; a stray that wandered to their house that Jongdeok and Jongdae begged to keep. He brought so much magic into their home, was a family familiar that had formed a bond with Jongdae.

Jongdae could be working on a spell, be practicing his music, doing his homework, and Cheol wouldn't leave his side. No one could get him to leave, eat, or budge from his place until Jongdae was ready.

“We were doing spells, and I called a storm I couldn’t handle. He was getting old—” Jongdae's voice cracks and he's mortified. He clenches his jaw to stabilize himself. This is the opposite of what he anticipated out of inviting Kyungsoo to watch flowers bloom.

"You can't let this keep you back." Kyungsoo moves to grab his arm again, his shoulder, but drops it.

"But it was my fault."

"It was an accident,” Kyungsoo emphasizes. 

"An accident with the worst consequences." Jongdae cries, and he hurts, because no one seems to _get it_.

"This is why your aura is muddy, Jongdae. You won't forgive yourself for something that was an accident and it's eating you and your magic away. Blocking you from letting Kumo in.” There's a hint of bitter vehemence in Kyungsoo's voice that Jongdae's never heard before. He glares at Kyungsoo. Explaining this, himself, was a mistake. Kyungsoo meets his stare and it's only broken when Jongdae turns his back to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Kyungsoo's voice follows, but Jongdae knows he hasn't moved to follow him. Not yet.

"To be alone." Jongdae replies.

"Jongdae," and there's the shuffle of his body moving, a slight desperate edge to his voice as he follows him. “Wait—” he grabs his arm and spins him around.

“No. I... I'm going to meditate,” Jongdae says on the spot. He doesn’t move out of Kyungsoo’s grasp, though. His anger exists, is still prominent, but there's panic too.

“I'm sorry,” Kyungsoo's grip is steady, and it’s loose enough that Jongdae could easily slip out and away, but strong enough that it's holding Jongdae to the earth as he is kept in this moment with Kyungsoo and acknowledging that an attempt on conversation is actually happening. “For being so abrasive. It’s just… frustrating seeing you blame yourself.”

But Jongdae doesn't necessarily want to forgive him. Not at this moment. He's mad and annoyed because he knows... he knows if what had happened to anyone else he would be saying the same things that Kyungsoo is saying to him. And that with his family there was never anything to forgive.

Maybe that is why he's held onto it for so long. With no one blaming him he needed to blame himself.

And with Kyungsoo standing there, in the back of the nursery with the dirt and the plants Jongdae is struck with that same visceral desire from earlier to kiss him. But he can’t, it's wrong. He’s _upset_. He pulls his arm away, out of Kyungsoo's grip.

"We should go," Jongdae whispers. "I need to go."

There's another weighted silence that sits between them.

Kyungsoo sighs quietly; heavily. "Let's go.”

~

Jongdae dreams again. The same dream that Baekhyun woke him from while he shook on the floor of their living room. Of hair snapping in the wind, waves chasing, crashing on top of him. The shadow of Cheol in the peripheral of his sight. He's breathing underwater and struggles to move against the pressure of the water. And he turns and follows that familiar form.

He needs to apologize. He's desperate to apologize.

There's an explosion of light, a rumble of thunder. Suddenly, without warning, Jongdae's vision goes dark. He cannot see a thing. But the air is clear and he can move freely. The scent of the earth surrounds him, damp moss and soil, the high pitched echos of a stream running behind him. There's a feeling, deep down, a knowledge that someone wants to find him. Jongdae holds out his hand, palm facing upward, and he doesn’t flinch when a familiar weight lands in his palm.

Kumo.

There's a rustling behind him, coming from the stream, heavier, padded steps.

_I need light._ Jongdae thinks, and as the thought easily comes, so does the light. There's no source for it, only that as soon as he expressed the desire it was granted. It's a dull glow, and his eyes are quick to adjust. He's been here before, a distant memory, but just as he thinks he's sure of the place it escapes him.

The soft pads against the dirt and earthen ground are coming closer, but the light extends only so far. Jongdae glances at Kumo in his hand. There's an image, simply planted in his mind of such a similar scene of Jongdae sitting crossed legged with a flashlight next to him, his pendant around his neck, and a smaller version of Kumo showing herself for the first time.

"We're in the cave," Jongdae whispers aloud. Another image, a shared memory, Jongdae cradling Kumo in his palms while he retreats back into the car, unsure how to drive with a small tarantula. He's shown his own face, stressed as he drives with one hand, unwilling to let her down until she could be protected in a carrier of some sort.

It abruptly switches to the sight of Jongdae, lying on the floor, as light tremors shake through his body. It's weird, seeing this from above, from someone else's perspective, an omniscient point of view.

"Are these your memories?" Jongdae asks with his words, and Kumo raises one of her front legs, a small flag of confirmation. This is the most he’s been able to communicate with Kumo since they met in the Cave, and they’re here again, connecting through the astral plane in their dreams.

Suddenly the shadow, so recognizable and so distinguishable, padded its way into the small circle of dim light surrounding Jongdae and Kumo. There stood Cheol. The light bouncing off his white coat and brightening the cave interior even more, like a halo around him, glowing. Jongdae’s heart close to beating directly out of his chest. He looks younger than Jongdae remembers him being when the accident happened.

He recalls how Cheol wouldn’t leave Jongdae’s side, how much time they actually spent together. He was a family familiar, but he was Jongdae’s dog. Where Jongdae went Cheol would follow and protect and guide.

And then one day Jongdae tried a spell that was too much.

The need to apologize, to finally say it is overwhelming. But as he opens his mouth there’s a voice, one that isn’t soft or loud, deep or high pitched, just clear in his head— _“There is nothing to apologize for. You never did anything wrong.”_

With Jongdae’s free hand he reaches to touch, to pet Cheol on his favorite spot behind his ear and down the side of his face, and just as his fingers brush against his fur Jongdae is snapped from the cave and gasping for air.

He’s sitting up on the floor of his bedroom, still in the same meditative position he started in; grasping onto his smoky quartz that is leaving indents in his palm. He exhales a shaky and shuddering breath and glances to see the opened terrarium, his eyes travel down to Kumo who is on the floor in front of Jongdae, patient and small and waiting.

It feels as though the last remaining bit that was able to hold Jongdae together cracks beyond repair and shatters, making way for every bit of grief he's held back for years to come pouring through in turbulent waves he doesn’t know how to process.

Jongdae recalls a passage in the book he borrowed from Yixing springing to his mind, sudden and sharp. How spiders are asking those they encounter to have a look at the parts of yourself you haven’t come to terms with yet. How spiders attract magical coincidences into our lives.

Magical coincidences. Jongdae’s thoughts immediately swivel to big eyes and a smile that blooms heat in Jongdae’s chest.

Jongdae keeps thinking about the book, about arachnids: they are dreamweavers and interpreters, great for spell casting because of their web weaving skills.

_When a spider appears you need to ask: is a cycle of our life beginning or ending? Are we in too much of a hurry and is that leading to failure? Look beyond the web of illusions of the physical world and beyond the horizon to other dimensions._

“This is part of it,” Jongdae whispers, both in question to Kumo and a statement into the universe.

He always knew that his block with Kumo was in-part because he was still clutching so tightly onto Cheol. Blocked by guilt and regret.

Jongdae is exhausted, dreaming in the astral plane is hardly a rejuvenating sleep, and he picks up Kumo, cradles her in his palm and brings her to her terrarium. “We’re going to do a lot of work tomorrow,” he tells her. “We should rest.”

When Jongdae dreams again it’s of shared memories, Kumo’s memories and feelings and experiences surrounding those memories. Jongdae sits and basks in each one, and when he wakes in the early hours of the morning he’s grateful.

~

Jongdae brings Kumo to work the next few days, it’s been a while, because transporting her back and forth is cumbersome, but he has the second terrarium at the shop now, and a small carrier. It’s getting warmer, too. The heat from the day stretching longer and longer after the sun goes down.

A day after he had gotten upset in front of Kyungsoo he entered the nursery to see a wilted bloom from the queen of the night. It was a punch to the gut, a sour taste that lingered for the rest of that day.

In the nursery Jongdae is given image after image from Kumo. And each image is a memory or an imagined scenario; pictures of Jongdae doing different actions. Waterfalls and rain mean ‘water that plant,’ while the image of Noodle basking in the sun patches in the apartment mean 'this one needs more light.’

Figuring out what means what is trial and error, but Jongdae asks a yes or no question and Kumo can answer that easily enough with the raise of her front leg, the peachy-pink end of it a wave of confidence and support.

Jongdae knew there was a block when he met with Yixing at his clinic and was told his aura was muddied and brown. But knowing the problem is only a portion of the work. The other part is fixing the problem.

Jongdae is finally at a place where thinks all of this is salvageable.

Baekhyun even comments on how alive the apartment feels, and he does so while he’s finally breaking his last barrier and is actually holding Kumo. Jongdae had asked she didn’t move, even if it is in her nature to climb and scuttle around, she was still for her sake and Baekhyun’s as well.

“It’s the plants,” Jongdae says. “Can’t you feel it? They’re radiating energy.”

Baekhyun scoffs and gives him an incredulous look, “It’s coming from _you._”

Jongdae’s mouth falls open in shock and he feels a creeping blush. He’s kind of proud though, that there’s magic radiating off of him, it feels like it’s been so long since he’s felt so _healthy_.

He decides not to comment on that observation and instead focuses back on the fact Baekhyun hasn’t moved since Kumo walked into his palm. Jongdae wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t breathing, the sentence he said a moment ago being the last of his breath.

“Do you want me to take her back?” he asks, and with a loud exhale Baekhyun finally moves.

“Yes, please,” and he holds his hands out for her to crawl back.

“It wasn’t that bad, right?” Jongdae soothes.

“No, but I’m good for a while,” and he rests a hand on his chest, over his heart, “my heart is beating crazy fast.”

Jongdae laughs and then continues to water a few of the plants in the apartment while Baekhyun goes back to his room, Noodle scampering behind him. He thinks about Kyungsoo, wonders how he would arrange the plants in this apartment in accordance with the ley line. They haven’t spoken since Jongdae got, admittedly unfairly, upset with him after he shared what happened with Cheol and parted ways. He received a text from Kyungsoo afterwards, asking that he let him know he was home and safe. Jongdae did, but hasn’t heard from him since. He wonders vaguely if Kyungsoo is avoiding him, and then realizes he’s the one who’s probably avoiding Kyungsoo.

There’s a buzz of energy being pushed against him. Jongdae recognizes it as Kumo trying to tell him something, so he opens and lets her in to see Kyungsoo from a perspective that makes him seem much taller and bigger than he is.

“What about him?” Jongdae whispers to her. Jongdae still struggles to understand a lot of things from her, but it’s not for lack of trying. He just needs practice. Kumo shows him another image, from the same day, of Kyungsoo looking down at her with a small but genuine smile. _“She seems sweet,”_ the memory Kyungsoo says.

“You are sweet.” Jongdae replies, hopes she isn’t upset that Baekhyun couldn’t handle her.

She crawls from his shoulder until two of her legs touch his neck and she sends another image; Jongdae a blushing idiot with Kyungsoo in front of him. It’s a louder image, in that he _feels_ Kumo’s adoration of Jongdae and the secondhand, though still abundant, interest in Kyungsoo. The images switch to Jongdae walking into his room and he’s flooded with Kumo’s sense of happiness and relief. The image switches to Kyungsoo but the relief and happiness remains.

“You want to see Kyungsoo?” Jongdae asks and moves his hand so he can see what she signs to him physically. She waits a moment too long before lifting one of her legs, her usual sign for ‘yes.’ 

Jongdae tries again. “You want to see him, but that wasn’t what you were trying to say?”

This time she confirms quicker. He doesn’t know what she could mean. He remembers Yixing saying that it takes time and interpretation and… Well, they have a lot of time to really work on the whole ‘communicating’ thing.

~

He let Yixing know there had been an advancement, that he dealt with the block and the initial door of communication between him and Kumo had opened. Yixing was thrilled, due in to pick up some supplies, and Jongdae promised to fill him in more in person.

The next day is a warm one, the heart of spring, and Jongdae brings Kumo to work with him. The day passes slower than usual, until the bell on the front door chimes and Yixing walks in, and Jongdae’s mood elevates a few notches.

Jongdae was always grateful that Yixing never pressed on why he had a block in his magic and his aura, that he could sense Jongdae didn’t want to necessarily share that aspect at the time. Jongdae shares it now, a surface level explanation that has Yixing’s brows furrowed in sympathy. Jongdae can handle faces like that now, can see that they don’t always correlate to ‘pity.’ 

Junmyeon is bringing one of the carts to Yixing’s car to be loaded when Yixing speaks lowly to him, “Do you mind if I sneak a peek at your aura while I’m here?”

Jongdae nods his head, “Please, I’m… actually kinda curious,” he admits.

Yixing focuses intently on Jongdae for a few moments, and then smiles warmly. “There’s already been a big change, Jongdae. Your aura is matching with Kumo’s,” he nods to her on the counter by the cash register.

“Does it still spiral?” Jongdae asks, curious.

Yixing hums quietly. “No, it’s lessened. It’s like a… a ripple,” Yixing settles on. “Green auras are the color of the heart and nature, it’s a good color on you.”

After Yixing leaves with his order Junmyeon turns to face him, gives him a small smile like he knows something Jongdae doesn’t (which is… frequently). Jongdae wants to whine, beg that Junmyeon stops making that face, but he doesn’t. But maybe he should have because Junmyeon doesn’t tease him about anything, but praises him.

“You worked really hard to get where you are, Jongdae. You should be proud.”

Jongdae is proud, but also uncomfortable with praise coming from Junmyeon. Squirmy. He debates on asking him if it’s okay to continue working and learning from him for the foreseeable future, but figures Junmyeon already knows.

There's a loud squawk from Gully, sat on her perch. The door chimes again and Jongdae turns to see Kyungsoo, soft and in jeans and a black t-shirt, hair hidden under a ball cap.

“Oh.” Jongdae says. His heart swells to an abnormally larger size as Kyungsoo purposefully moves to the front counter where Jongdae is, Kumo behind him in her terrarium.

“Hey,” Kyungsoo says with stiff casualness.

“Jongdae, I’ll be in the back getting the order for Mrs. Choi ready, let me know if you need anything.” Junmyeon raises his forearm for Gully who soars and lands. They move to the nursery, leaving Kyungsoo and Jongdae alone.

There’s a counter separating them, but Kyungsoo doesn’t look like he’s here as a customer. “I’m sorry,” Jongdae starts. “For getting upset at you. You didn’t do or say anything wrong. I’m sorry.”

Kyungsoo frowns. “Then why have you been avoiding me?”

Jongdae wrings his hands together. “Because I was frustrated? Because you were right? I wasn’t moving forward and…” he hesitates, “I’ve been avoiding a lot these past few years and it was overwhelming having you and Yixing and everyone else just… nudging me forward. But I needed it.”

“I know we haven’t known each other for that long, but I—” Kyungsoo hesitates, internally tripping over his words, “I care about you. And I just wanted to help.”

“You have!” Jongdae exclaims. How could Kyungsoo think he hasn’t? “You really have you never… pressured me to explain things I didn’t want to explain. You always knew the right way to be there.” Sitting in a park by his apartment after a nightmare, that dream, of Kyungsoo simply being a stable presence for Jongdae. Didn’t ask a single question. “I always appreciated that.”

He angles his body away, Kumo’s presence a jab to his side. He feels her reaching out to him, images alternating between Baekhyun holding her and Kyungsoo who is standing before him. She wants Jongdae to pay attention to her so bad and wonders how often she was trying to reach out to him and he just wasn’t letting her in. Wasn’t able to let her in.

Kyungsoo shifts his gaze to behind Jongdae, towards Kumo. The images of Kyungsoo keep bombarding Jongdae to the point where he can’t dismiss it for a moment longer. Jongdae opens the bottom of her terrarium and she moves so fast Jongdae can’t tell if she quickly crawls or leaps into his hands.

“She’s active,” Kyungsoo comments when Jongdae turns his body to face him again, moving his hands quickly in front of the other letting Kumo gracefully walk across his palms. Jongdae remembers their conversation from the other night, how she was trying to explain something to him about Kyungsoo.

“She’s worked up,” Jongdae admits. “I think she… wants you to hold her?”

Jongdae is tentative in his assumption, but Kumo stops walking and raises her two legs up and down in eager affirmation. “Yeah, she does.” 

Kyungsoo’s expression is blank as he looks back and forth between Kumo in Jongdae’s hands. He holds his palms cupped for her to be held, and Jongdae moves towards him.

“You can communicate?” Kyungsoo asks, and they make eye contact as Jongdae holds his hands to Kyungsoo’s, their fingertips brushing gently.

“Yes, in images like Yixing and you described I’m… still struggling but it’s getting easier.” 

Jongdae doesn’t know why Kyungsoo showed up today, if it was to confront him or check up on him (he doesn’t _need_ checking up on but Jongdae is still glad to see him).

Kumo moves gracefully from Jongdae to Kyungsoo and when Jongdae moves away he still feels the lingering touch of their fingers. He watches Kumo slowly crawl across Kyungsoo’s hands, try to move up his arm before Kyungsoo puts a hand down to move her. He holds his hands closer to his face, staring at Kumo through his glasses. It’s much more different from watching Baekhyun or Yixing handle her.

“The queen of the night bloomed,” Jongdae tells him, because he's lost for other words and watching Kyungsoo handle Kumo is proving to be a lot for him to absorb. “I came in one morning to see the flower had already wilted. They only last for one night.”

Kyungsoo keeps his head in the same position, but his eyes flick to meet Jongdae’s and he slowly lowers his hands before moving them one in front of the other like Jongdae does, letting Kumo walk across his hands and keeping up with her pace.

“Are there other buds waiting to bloom?” he asks, soft trepidation in his voice.

Jongdae nods, and they both glance to his hands and watch as Kumo moves. “I don’t know when, it’s kind of a guessing game. But since one has it’s likely that the rest will follow.”

“I’d still like to see it,” Kyungsoo confesses, “if that’s okay.”

Jongdae’s heart beats in his chest, a _ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum_ that is loud in his ears. Having feelings for Kyungsoo has always felt like something soft and private; a thing he only admitted when there was no one else around to even see him think about it. But his feelings have filled and suddenly they’re spilling everywhere for anyone to see.

“Of course… I was going to stay late tonight if you wanted,” and realizing how forward and eager that might sound he backtracks. “Or tomorrow or whenever,” which doesn’t sound much better. Jongdae, an idiot, blushes. But Kyungsoo just gives him a soft smile and nods.

“Tonight is good.”

There’s a pause between them, but Jongdae is sick of pauses he doesn’t know how to fill. He opens his mouth to say something, maybe to apologize again, but Kyungsoo beats him to it.

“I should go, for now.” He lifts his hands to pass Kumo back, the front counter still between them, and Jongdae takes his familiar back and lets her crawl up his arm and onto his shoulder.

“I’ll text you when we’re closed,” Jongdae tells him, and Kyungsoo nods, gives a small smile, and exits from the front door, the bell ringing behind him.

It’s not even half a minute before Junmyeon is peeking through from the back room. Gully on his shoulder. “Is he gone?”

Jongdae rolls his eyes and wishes he had the mister to spray in his face. “Yes, he’s gone. I thought you were in the back because you had an order to fill, not because you wanted to eavesdrop.”

“If I was eavesdropping I would have known he definitely left.” Junmyeon counters and he fully comes into the room. “Are you staying late tonight?” he asks.

“I am,” Jongdae replies. Junmyeon’s mouth pouts like he wants to say something so Jongdae cuts him off, “There’s a lot I need to focus on Junmyeonnie. Also,” he decides to add, because maybe it’ll distract Junmyeon from whatever he wants to say about Kyungsoo, “I think I want to continue working here and learn while I can, if that’s alright?”

Junmyeon splutters, whatever comment he may or may not have had on the tip of his tongue gone with Jongdae’s hopes that they can keep woking together. “Can I finally teach you about enchantments?” he asks, hopefully.

Jongdae beams a smile at him, “Yeah, hyung. Let’s start there.”

Junmyeon goes over the basics that Jongdae is already familiar with, but Jongdae pays closer attention this time.

At the end of Junmyeon’s day at the shop they’re watering some of the plants together, going over the first spell Junmyeon began to teach when he asks, “What do you call two young married spiders?”

Jongdae doesn’t like were this is going, knows it’s going to be bad. He genuinely tries to figure out the pun before Junmyeon says it, but he comes up empty handed.

“Newly webs!”

Jongdae painfully sucks in a tight breath of air. Gully croaks in response and Junmyeon covers his mouth with his own dirt covered hand and laughs. Jongdae doesn’t miss this time when he sprays him with the mister.

~

Everything that could have happened the last time Kyungsoo came to see the queen of the night bloom is something he hopes happens tonight. That doesn’t entail much, other than them not fighting and the flower bud blooming, but Jongdae’s always hoped for a simple life with simple pleasures. He thinks maybe with Kumo here it’ll be better, too.

Jongdae texts Kyungsoo that he’ll be locking the shop soon, to come whenever he can. It’s warmer tonight that it has been all spring. Jongdae spends his time doing mundane tasks: cleaning, organizing the receipts from the week, seeing if their register has enough money to make change. He checks on the queen of the night and sees the tips of her bud are already beginning to show the white of its flower.

There’s a knock on the door and Kyungsoo is standing there in the same casual outfit as earlier. Comfortable, and definitely not the same as when Kyungsoo came after his own job dressed in his suit. 

Jongdae opens the door, but doesn’t let Kyungsoo in. Kyungsoo looks confused, eyebrows pulled together. “If we want to grab something to eat we should go now, it’s starting to bloom and it’ll take a bit, but I’m definitely hungry enough that I can’t wait,” he explains.

“I’m hungry, too,” Kyungsoo admits and stands aside to let Jongdae leave the front of the shop, locking it behind him. They walk to the 7-11 again and Jongdae wishes he could get something more substantial, but he’s also excited to be with Kyungsoo. With too many options and his brain firing off he chooses two different kimbaps and a juice. He doesn’t even note what Kyungsoo plans on eating, but takes it from him regardless and pays for it all before Kyungsoo can protest.

“I wanted to,” Jongdae tells him when Kyungsoo scolds him for buying his food on the walk back. “You didn’t need to come out here twice in a day just to look at a plant.”

“No,” Kyungsoo says, like he’s sharing a secret, “But I wanted to. I’ll just pay for next time,” Kyungsoo sighs. Jongdae is excited for the possibility of next time, wonders the circumstances of them needing to get food at a 7-11.

Back at the shop Jongdae unlocks the door and lets them in, making their way back to the nursery. He moved Kumo’s terrarium in there earlier and she sits in her top corner of webbings on the arrangement table. He leaves her for now, it’s been a long day of work and handling and she needs her time alone.

Jongdae eats his kimbap while they walk around the nursery and Kyungsoo explains basics about _feng shui_. “Working with flowers is easy when you apply common sense.” He points out the peonies, fragrant and bloomed and individually cut. “If you’re looking for romance you should place peonies in clumps of two, not solo blooms. Knowing the different colors helps too. Red is the color of prosperity, and I tell clients it’s a jolt of energy to kickstart adventure or a relationship. Meanwhile pink is slower,” he pauses, knowingly glances at Jongdae. “Softer, gentler.”

Jongdae swallows. They make their way back to the queen of the night, and it’s in a true bloom, only halfway through and still closed. But if Jongdae pays attention he can actually see it moving as it opens. 

He grasps onto one of the leaves, and he didn’t see or hear Kyungsoo leave his side but he comes back with Kumo in his palm. She moves from Kyungsoo to Jongdae easily. She shows him an image of himself taking care of the plant, of him speaking and singing. Jongdae doesn’t get nervous singing in front of people, but he’s hyper-aware of Kyungsoo’s gaze on him when he begins humming a tune. A melody he can’t quite remember the title of.

“I know that song,” Kyungsoo whispers.

“I don’t remember the name of it,” Jongdae quietly says. He feels like if he talks any louder, whatever moment they’re sharing will be broken. “Or the words, just the melody.”

Kumo gives him another image, of her climbing the trellis and the stalks of the queen. Jongdae lets her down and she climbs easily, the leaves wide and expansive and giving her plenty of surface area to move. When she gets to the bud she places the peachy-pink tip of her front leg on it, and Jongdae feels how she’s channeling magic and energy into the plant. Jongdae instinctively begins to direct some of his own magic into her, and his eyes widen in amazement as the flower blooms like a time-lapse video right in front of their eyes.

As soon as it opens Jongdae can already smell its pungent and floral aroma. He’s in awe of how beautiful it is, the thin and long spindly petals, contrasting with the green of its stems and leaves. Jongdae leans in and takes another deep breath.

This is the magic he can do with Kumo. He recalls some of the first magic he did with her; the spider plant in his apartment. Without a line of communication that plant took hours for brown leaves to turn green. Now they’re speeding up buds blooming into flowers right before their eyes.

Jongdae feels like he shouldn’t be excited, it’s just a flower blooming. But it’s one he took care of, nursed back to health almost exclusively on his own. It only blooms for one night, but that doesn’t matter because it's healthy again and he knows how to take care of it, can take care of it with Kumo, and wait for it to bloom again next year.

“Jongdae?” He turns to the voice, Kyungsoo’s, quiet but steady. And then Kyungsoo is kissing him, gentle and soft. Kyungsoo’s hands grasp on the fabric of Jongdae’s shirt at his hips, noses brushing against each other. Jongdae’s own hands find Kyungsoo’s biceps, and he makes sure they stay grounded as their lips continue to press together, firm and with purpose. Kyungsoo’s hat is in the way, and Jongdae takes it off with one hand, eyes still closed, and tosses it onto what he hopes is the arranging table.

And then the kiss gentles and Jongdae feels the humidity of the nursery and the softness of Kyungsoo’s lips as they lessen the pressure, and he sighs as they finally part. Kyungsoo makes a sound Jongdae’s never heard, and he realizes it’s a _giggle_. He’s heard Kyungsoo laugh, but he’s never heard the sweet dulcet chimes of Kyungsoo giggling. Jongdae is in awe.

He then comes back and realizes Kyungsoo had just kissed him. Kyungsoo is beet red down his neck and up his ears; eyes wide, smile wider. Jongdae wonders if he looks the same, and figured he must as he feels himself smiling harder and brighter with each passing moment. 

“God, I should've asked. Was that—” Kyungsoo hesitates, clutching onto Jongdae’s shirt tighter in his own nerves, “Was that allowed? Is that alright?”

Jongdae’s hands move from Kyungsoo’s arms until he’s holding his face in-between his hands, fingers moving through the soft hairs on the back of Kyungsoo’s head. His hair is flat from his hat, an indentation on his forehead. Jongdae doesn’t restrain himself and kisses it gently before backing away.

“Yes, Soo. More than alright.”

Kyungsoo laughs. Jongdae pulls him in and kisses him again.

~

Jongdae is rearranging his plants in the apartment. Kyungsoo is helping, Jongdae had most of his plants situated in the South-facing areas of the apartment, which is apparently good, but more could do with being in the East. He removes a few of the smaller potted succulents from the North.

Most of this goes over Jongdae’s head, but he’s learning. The same way he’s learning and getting better with enchantments he’s also learning about _feng shui_ and how his plants can amplify good fortune and protect against negative outcomes.

“What’s that one?” Kyungsoo asks, pointing to the pot he has in the far corner of his room. It’s a cutting he took from the nursery, a shoot of green standing tall in the soil. He doesn’t want this cutting to fail before it’s gotten a chance to take root, he wants to keep this one around. When it’s big enough he might hang it, let the stems drape down.

“I took a cutting from the queen of the night,” Jongdae answers. “They’re easy to propagate, I wanted one for here.” The rest of the buds from the original plant in the nursery have bloomed and fallen. Jongdae wonders if this one will grow quickly, how many blooms it’ll be able to produce. 

“Maybe I should get one for my place, too.”

Jongdae hums in agreement.

He thinks about where he was a few months ago, where he is now, where he sees himself in another few months. He even lets himself think about where he could be in a few years and he hopes Kyungsoo will still be there to experience it with him. Jongdae drapes himself around Kyungsoo, the perfect size to lean against. He can smell the strong clean scent of Kyungsoo, of pine and soap. Grounding.

He feels a spurt of energy, Kumo calling out to him. Jongdae sees an image of Jongdae taking another cutting, potting it inside the nursery. It’s placed out of sight, on the other side of Jongdae’s bed, waiting to be brought to a new home.

They’re nearly done with their rearrangement. Jongdae has too many plants, it turns out, and too many plants in a home environment can clog the flow of energy. Jongdae offered Kyungsoo to take some with him; he’s sure the addition of a twin-cutting from the queen of the night will be welcomed.

_Don’t ruin the surprise,_ he tells Kumo, and grants himself a small, private, and knowing smile.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! i hope you enjoyed it. i'm on [twitter](https://twitter.com/avisdreams) & recently made a [cc](https://curiouscat.me/avisdreams)~ let's chat!


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